An OMAAT reader sent me an interesting post he saw on Threads, and asked for my take. I think this is worth discussing, because the person’s claim might be sort of true, but not for the reason he thinks.
In this post:
Traveler accuses Emirates of flying old planes to Africa
A Nigerian fashion designer named Ugo Mozie took to Threads, posting a video from his business class seat on an Emirates 777. The video is captioned as follows:
Again, for the connecting flight to Africa we get the oldest planes possible. Just listen to the captain. They don’t send these quality planes anywhere else.
In the video, you can hear the captain apologizing for the brief lack of ground power, and also for the temperature in the cabin, due to an inoperable APU. I had initially embedded the post into this story, but it seems that it was just deleted, after I published, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
Of course I’m not a fan of generalizing entire continents (Egypt and South Africa are kind of different in every way), but I see where he’s coming from.
For that matter, he’s hardly the first person to accuse airlines of discriminating against African countries in terms of the planes they fly there. In the past, we’ve even seen Ghana and Nigeria threaten airlines over the types of aircraft they fly to those countries.
Is Emirates really flying older planes to Africa, or…?
So the guy sort of has a point, but not necessarily for the reason he thinks.
First of all, the plane’s broken APU and ground power issues were just a really unlucky coincidence. Broken APUs happen, but it’s deferrable maintenance, and I guarantee you that no one at Emirates is saying “yeah, send the plane with the broken APU to Lagos.” So the core of his complaint has nothing to do with the age of the aircraft, but rather, just with bad luck.
Now, do a lot of destinations in West Africa and Central Africa get Emirates’ 777s with old interiors? Yes, that is true. Emirates has a pretty straightforward fleet, consisting almost exclusively of 777s and A380s (the airline is also now getting A350s, but there aren’t many flying yet).
Many African airports are limited to the 777, due to airport infrastructure, and also due to lack of demand. Emirates does fly A380s to some destinations in Africa, ranging from Cairo, to Casablanca, to Johannesburg.
Now, Emirates is in the process of updating its 777s with new interiors, including adding a new business class and premium economy. We’re seeing all kinds of planes be reconfigured, including some of Emirates’ older 777s. That’s an important distinction, as there’s a difference between which plane is actually old, and which plane looks old from the inside. Just ask Delta, which is famous for making old AF planes look new (and I’m not talking about Air France).
So, why are destinations in West Africa and Central Africa not among the first to get the reconfigured 777s? It comes down to the competitive landscape.
As any for-profit airline would want to do, you need to offer your best product in the most competitive markets first, where there’s more potential market share to gain. It’s not surprising that flights to and from the United States, Europe, and the South Pacific, have been among the first to get these new products, including premium economy, which has become such a popular cabin in recent years.
For example, Europe to Australia is a huge market for Emirates, and there’s a ton of competition. Emirates has to compete with other Gulf carriers, and also with top notch Asian carriers, like Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, etc. That’s on top of British Airways and Qantas, which have a loyal following on each end of the journey.
The same is true for flights to and from the United States. The Gulf carriers have really competitive products, there are all kinds of connecting options through Europe, and US airlines have a loyal customer base due to their frequent flyer programs.
The reality is that the passenger flow for flights to and from parts of Africa work very differently. The competitive landscape just isn’t as strong. Many markets have very little competition, many countries in the region don’t have national airlines, geography makes competition a little more fragmented (you’re not going to fly a Gulf carrier from Lagos to London), etc.
All of these routes will eventually get updated products, but it’ll take some patience. By the way, it’s important to mention that it’s not just some Africa routes that generally get Emirates’ older jets. Emirates’ fifth freedom US flights from New York to Milan and Newark to Athens have historically received the oldest variants of the respective jets (A380s and 777s). That’s slowly starting to change, but up until recently, was consistently the case.
Bottom line
I’ve heard people accuse Emirates of flying its older and more run down planes to Africa more than once, so I figured it was worth a post. Yes, it’s not untrue that Emirates operates a lot of routes to Africa with its older aircraft.
However, that’s just a function of the competitive landscape, and of needing to prioritize newly reconfigured aircraft in markets with stronger competition. If an Emirates plane has some sort of mechanical issue in Dubai, that’s not because of what the interior of the plane looks like, but instead, it’s just bad luck.
They definitely do and most are filthy as well. I have proof ...
I sometimes get the impression the same happens with routes to Colombia, especially with Star Alliance carriers.
One Lufthansa flight three years ago was held up for almost an hour because a headrest fell on the child who took the seat. It just plonked on to her head when she sat down. Her head did not even touch the headrest. This happened on an A340.
Two years ago, I flew a Turkish Airlines 777 from...
I sometimes get the impression the same happens with routes to Colombia, especially with Star Alliance carriers.
One Lufthansa flight three years ago was held up for almost an hour because a headrest fell on the child who took the seat. It just plonked on to her head when she sat down. Her head did not even touch the headrest. This happened on an A340.
Two years ago, I flew a Turkish Airlines 777 from Istanbul to Bogota (14 hours). My seat cushion was completely worn through. I could feel my bones touching the plastic seat beneath the cushion after the first hour.
Last year, I flew an Edelweiss A340. The interiors looked and felt new, but there was no WIFI.
I never have any of these problems when I fly KLM or Air France.
China and India used to get beat up planes until they became a place for airlines to make money on some routes.
You get new planes flying to J-berg and CT, and sometimes Rwanda and Botswana these days.
Perhaps the "fashion designer" should fly Air Peace or Arik Air instead... This clown is lucky Emirates even decides to serve a $h!th0l€ like that...
Emirates isn't alone. LUFTHANSA also flies old planes with unresponsive touchscreens, broken USB ports, loose AUX audio input jacks between Germany and Nairobi. It's extremely shameful. The LUFTHANSA planes are filthy dirty, they don't wipe the windows, they don't SWEEP the floors after flights and yes, I've taken that flight path more than once. So it's the LUFTHANSA modus operandim
Better shape up LUFTHANSA! Or the rapidly growing African passenger plane market will continue...
Emirates isn't alone. LUFTHANSA also flies old planes with unresponsive touchscreens, broken USB ports, loose AUX audio input jacks between Germany and Nairobi. It's extremely shameful. The LUFTHANSA planes are filthy dirty, they don't wipe the windows, they don't SWEEP the floors after flights and yes, I've taken that flight path more than once. So it's the LUFTHANSA modus operandim
Better shape up LUFTHANSA! Or the rapidly growing African passenger plane market will continue to avoid your carrier!
yea, they'll fly Air Peace instead...
I just checked and basically every Lufthansa route to Africa is flown on an A330, 787, or 747-8i. Three of Lufthansa's *newest* types, not oldest. Yeah a couple routes have older A340-300s but so does New York City of all places.
And Vancouver gets a geriatric 747-400 every day.
@National
I fly FRA-NBO so very often and what you're saying isn't true.
Speaking of Nairobi; the city tends to get the latest products from airlines. Even BA fly their premium heavy A350 to NBO.
Just adding to the list, Lufthansa also flies some pretty nasty planes to Africa (in my case Addis Ababa)
Lufthansa does not fly to Addis you dimwit! Stop lying!
I have flown to Africa several times and never have I seen anyone “crap on the floors” of the plane. What are you going on about?
As someone who flies to many destinations in Africa from DXB on a regular basis, I agree 100% that Emirates uses their oldest airplanes on most African routes.
Sending older planes to areas that don't make a huge amount of money is nothing new. Remember when AA flew it's old beat up, maintenance prone A300s from JFK and MIA to SJU? There's a reason A300s were flown and not 772s.
Not only Africa Also all China routes they are using the oldest aircrafts.
Don't understand the reason
Paging Sean M. Sean M. If you are already on board please click the call button.
Dude, I was the first commenter on this thread. Scroll down.
It's a truth for some destinations least. I flew CAN-DXB in 2012 and 2016 Roundtrip, all 4 legs was in the worst 777 they have, no AVOD 777s, while my european leg(AMS,FCO,LED,DME) were all touchscren control 777.
I only partly agree as an extremely lucrative and busy route is between Dubai and Cape Town. It brings hundreds of thousands of international tourists annually.
The most modern and new
aircraft should be used on this route as a matter of urgency
Nigerians love to make this complaint whenever they don't get the newest, fanciest, most perfectly-maintained plane in the fleet. A couple of years ago, DL did a profile on where one of its 763s flew over the course of a week... starting and ending in Lagos, soas to note the same plane is also sent to London and Tokyo.
It seems like other major US carriers (American, Delta and United) do this for their transoceanic routes too.
Take a popular route that is flown daily such as LAX-SYD. The major US carriers seem to fly their oldest planes on these routes.
Not always true…and it’s not also true for the interiors of the plane either.
Delta flies Airbus A350s between LAX and SYD.
United operates the 789 to Melbourne from both SFO and LAX.
If you think that Africa is an underserved premium market, then by all means, gather some investors and start your own airline, and put all your premium configured planes on the Africa routes. Let's see how you do.
Until then, you're basically just begging for something you haven't earned and don't deserve, which is DEI in a nutshell.
That isn’t what DEI is at all.
I love those 'it's a free market' posts. I mean, it can't be that hard to fill in a form and get the DRC Civil Aviation Authority to hand out some international frequencies to one's airline, can it?
If that is true I wonder why ek doesn't fly it's new first class to London, Tokyo, NYC?
I thought all the oldest aircrafts were flying to South India!!!!
TA does the same for Central Asia.
It is well known Asian airlines fly their oldest planes to Africa.
Yes, but EK is not the only carrier that does this. BA does or used to. VS used to.
BA and VS don’t anymore. BA sends their 787-10 which is their newest model. VS sends their a350-1000/A330eno which again are their newest models.
QR sends the 787-8 which is one of its older planes but they’ve been well maintained and the seats are still very competitive.
United sends the 787-8 which of course has Polaris and premium plus as do the rest of the fleet. So that’s also a new competitive product....
BA and VS don’t anymore. BA sends their 787-10 which is their newest model. VS sends their a350-1000/A330eno which again are their newest models.
QR sends the 787-8 which is one of its older planes but they’ve been well maintained and the seats are still very competitive.
United sends the 787-8 which of course has Polaris and premium plus as do the rest of the fleet. So that’s also a new competitive product.
Air France sends the A350/777 which also sport competitive products.
The only big international carriers that send rubbish products are emirates because their refurbished products can get them better ROI on other routes and Lufthansa because they don’t really have a choice.
Agree. Let's also remember that EK pulled out of Nigeria for around 2 years because of the foreign currency crisis where they could not repatriate north of $70M due to non-availability of USD in the country. That problem still exists, so no wonder EK aren't going to send down their best product when they don't have any certainty of getting their money, period - let alone a strong ROI
On another note, they recently started sending the A350 to Tunis (Tunisia), their first A350 destination in Africa.
I flew Emirates earlier this year from Dubai to a destination in East Asia. A major place for business and was not happy to discover that the plane they used had a 2-3-2 business and a 3-4-3 economy configuration considering the price they charge and how fancy many people claim the experience is.
Emirates is a business and some destinations in Africa do receive flagship aircraft’s (Cape Town /Jburg)
Other African routes are driven by economy passengers hence the lower product given to them. Emirates must also consider the geopolitical climate and the possible risk of loss of an airplane when deciding where to fly somewhere. They tend to fly newer aircraft to safer destinations because they don’t want an incident on new aircraft.
Additionally, service on...
Emirates is a business and some destinations in Africa do receive flagship aircraft’s (Cape Town /Jburg)
Other African routes are driven by economy passengers hence the lower product given to them. Emirates must also consider the geopolitical climate and the possible risk of loss of an airplane when deciding where to fly somewhere. They tend to fly newer aircraft to safer destinations because they don’t want an incident on new aircraft.
Additionally, service on Africa flights (besides South Africa) on Emirates has traditionally been a more junior crew that is not as refined as senior leaders who instill the desire the provide excellent emriates service.
It is widely know that Emirates most prized trips are to the far east (Tokyo, Seoul) and down under (Sydney, Auckland) and some say US (NYC & LAX).
The routes to Australia/NZ & North America are a lot of monthly hours in one trip with decent recovery time at both ends, rather than days on end of short layovers or quick overnight turnarounds to Africa and the subcontinent.
Lol Lucky makes an accidental case against DEI. “Hey we know this other destination deserves this aircraft more, which would be better for us financially too, but we have to send this plane to Africa because it makes certain people feel like they’re on the right side of history and if you disagree you’re a terrible person”
Is there a metaphor somewhere in there? A thesis? Anything making sense at all?
If so, try harder.
If not, your comment has no discernable point, leaving a reader to conclude, again, that you love the dotard and hate people who aren't white, as usual, irrespective of how word-salad-y you postings are.
Sorry this was over your head. Please dont tell my Mexican girlfriend I hate her. Por favor guey!
@Sel D This is the absolute award for most archaic and asinine comment made in a long time. I have no clue what you are even saying. Are you drunk? Please tell me you are so it will make sense.
KLM certainly has a history of sending its oldest planes to Africa. The flight I took back from Namibia a few years ago was a disgrace, the service was as horrible on Brussels Airlines to Rwanda was. In addition, my seatback screen was broken and flickering brightly and couldn't shut off. The flight attendant handed me a barf bag and two pieces of tape and brusquely told me "You can tape that over the screen."...
KLM certainly has a history of sending its oldest planes to Africa. The flight I took back from Namibia a few years ago was a disgrace, the service was as horrible on Brussels Airlines to Rwanda was. In addition, my seatback screen was broken and flickering brightly and couldn't shut off. The flight attendant handed me a barf bag and two pieces of tape and brusquely told me "You can tape that over the screen."
It should also be noted that many Africa-bound flights tend to be the most expensive in the world, so shouldn't airlines use their best planes and finest personnel for their most expensive routes?
“ shouldn't airlines use their best planes and finest personnel for their most expensive routes?”
Depends on the reason they’re expensive really. If it’s because of a lack of competition, it’s likely to lead in the opposite direction. Airlines will probably put their best planes where that higher quality leads to higher yields. If they’re already getting as much margin as they can, there’s no incentive to upgrade.
Ethiopian offer a really solid business class product (especially on the A350), and KQ aren't that far behind them.
Considering they both offer competitive fares (at least for connecting passengers), the only reason to fly the likes of SN to/from Africa is if you've found an amazing offer (they do sometimes have very keen business fares originating from Sweden, Italy etc- although they tend to book in P-class and give few/no miles with other...
Ethiopian offer a really solid business class product (especially on the A350), and KQ aren't that far behind them.
Considering they both offer competitive fares (at least for connecting passengers), the only reason to fly the likes of SN to/from Africa is if you've found an amazing offer (they do sometimes have very keen business fares originating from Sweden, Italy etc- although they tend to book in P-class and give few/no miles with other *A programmes) or award availability.
I live in Jamaica, and I can categorically say that BA flies their worst/oldest planes on the LGW-KIN-LGW route. I don’t think it’s racism, I think
It’s down to economics and this not being. A high profit route.
Gatwick fleet in a nutshell
Don't know about Emirates specifically but a lot of airlines use their oldest and worst equipment for Hajj flights.
Good to see that American-style persecution politics has been successfully exported to the rest of the world. Now Emirates' anodyne commerical and/or operational decisions can be derided as "racist" by everyone!
Not quite everyone Pete, some of us are not so disposed.
Has anyone even mentioned racism? Even though it is suspicious. Why are you triggered that people are describing their experiences? Also there are people of all races that travel to Africa. Stop Reverse race baiting.
More often than not, the persecution is real.
Do you mean perception?
Running an airline is a commercial enterprise, horses for courses does not always please the WOKE brigade.
I am becoming more and more convinced that you Aero are a troll.
Not only do they fly their older planes but the service is also below what you would see on "competitive" routes. It seems TK has studied the market and is moving aggressively across Africa which much more superior product overall. However, they are all facing very stiff competition from Ethiopian Airlines and have scaled back their Africa strategy, either with smaller planes and/or fewer frequencies. The problem for EK is it only operates wide body...
Not only do they fly their older planes but the service is also below what you would see on "competitive" routes. It seems TK has studied the market and is moving aggressively across Africa which much more superior product overall. However, they are all facing very stiff competition from Ethiopian Airlines and have scaled back their Africa strategy, either with smaller planes and/or fewer frequencies. The problem for EK is it only operates wide body fleet and that is not going to make it easier.
Virgin also send their oldest interiors to Africa.
Virgin sends their oldest interiors to so many places, not just Africa, there's multiple 787 frequencies on SFO and LAX, two very important destinations. It really brings down their product offering. The herringbone seat is definitively holding them back massively.
It used to be ok back when BA hadn't updated its interiors, but even BA has gotten with the program and Virgin is left looking in the 2000s with its dated product.
The moment Virgin...
Virgin sends their oldest interiors to so many places, not just Africa, there's multiple 787 frequencies on SFO and LAX, two very important destinations. It really brings down their product offering. The herringbone seat is definitively holding them back massively.
It used to be ok back when BA hadn't updated its interiors, but even BA has gotten with the program and Virgin is left looking in the 2000s with its dated product.
The moment Virgin fixes those herringbone seats, they'll see a massive influx of passengers. Right now, between the seats being bad and the risk of getting plane swapped, often times you're better off booking Delta, or looking at AA/BA for better fleet consistency.
Very true, but BA still fly their old business class seat on flights out of Gatwick and it’s still on their A380s. It’s truly horrendous. It’s even worse than the virgin herringbone seat. Had a last-minute flight out of Chicago recently. I just couldn’t do it, ended up paying $1500 to upgrade into first as the old club world seat is just a sad product especially in 2025 i can’t believe I used to fly it every other week.
Another reason not discussed in the article is that Emirates' oldest planes also have the more-dense configurations with more Economy Class seats. Emirates newest planes have more premium configurations, and they are also sent to more premium competitive destinations as Ben notes in the article.
A few years ago when Emirates had that crash landing in Dubai on the 777 coming from southern India, a lot of people called out accusing Emirates of sending it's...
Another reason not discussed in the article is that Emirates' oldest planes also have the more-dense configurations with more Economy Class seats. Emirates newest planes have more premium configurations, and they are also sent to more premium competitive destinations as Ben notes in the article.
A few years ago when Emirates had that crash landing in Dubai on the 777 coming from southern India, a lot of people called out accusing Emirates of sending it's oldest planes to the Indian Subcontinent for the same reason. They were saying that these old planes are the reason for that crash. Emirates pointed to the same reason about configuration I mentioned above as the reason for EK sending it's oldest planes to South Asia. The same applies to Africa. There is less premium demand to many destinations in Africa, and much more demand in Economy for Emirates.
Just look at Emirates' A350 deliveries, which follow the same pattern as their 777s. The first planes they are taking delivery of have heavy Economy configurations with less premium seats. Their future A350 deliveries will have a more premium layout, and in the future, Emirates' oldest A350s will likely fly these less-premium heavy routes to Africa and South Asia.
I want to add that it is likely that the A350 delivery and configuration pattern is not a coincidence. Unfortunately, EK and many airlines are guilty of sending older more outdated planes to certain destinations. It's just an unfortunate reality. The same was true with the Gulf Carriers to South Asia, and I would routinely experience that (and still do).
Yes but not in this case, there is no lack of premium demand to Lagos. The loads for business and first are high.
@JB
You don't really know what you're yapping about. The A350s that EK has so far received are abit higher density than future deliveries because they are meant to be used on regional routes.
Future A350s are at times called the 'Long range' but are not the ULR that SQ flies but rather that they'll have fewer seats and crew bunks for flights to Australia etc.
It has absolutely nothing to do with sending them to Africa.
I do want to call something out, it is possible EK said "send the plane with the broken APU to LOS" but not because they want to send bad planes to Africa, but because an APU is required Minimum Equipment List (MEL) item for ETOPS operations. DXB-LOS can be flown without ETOPS, so unfortunately it may just be that the plane was sent to LOS because it was one of the places it could go to.
Wasn't Delta called out for doing the same thing on one of their Africa flights to the point that their government banned certain aircraft because of the functionality issues?
Back when they used to scissor-hub 767s to South Africa, they were eventually prohibited from continuing to use their 767-300 ER fleet, and instead switched to their 767-400 ER fleet, before going nonstop to Jo'Burg.
Yes - problems with the old 767's to Accra.
It's interesting that in Europe, Vienna seems to get the A380 regularly that has no First Class. I found out the hard way with a booking in F that was downgraded to J. They seem to be switching this to VIE on a regular basis while often selling F until a week or two out and then downgrading anyone who booked it.
Ben, I agree with parts of your article, but flights to Lagos are in high demand. Wealthy Nigerians and government officials regularly pay for premium seats, and there’s a lot of connecting travel through hubs like Doha and Dubai, often with planned stopovers. It’s a very profitable route.
Still, there’s a clear pattern of unequal treatment on many African routes. I travel to the continent often for work and have seen it firsthand. Turkish Airlines,...
Ben, I agree with parts of your article, but flights to Lagos are in high demand. Wealthy Nigerians and government officials regularly pay for premium seats, and there’s a lot of connecting travel through hubs like Doha and Dubai, often with planned stopovers. It’s a very profitable route.
Still, there’s a clear pattern of unequal treatment on many African routes. I travel to the continent often for work and have seen it firsthand. Turkish Airlines, for example—usually known for excellent business class catering—often doesn’t stock alcohol and serves a basic sandwich and fruit on an 8-hour, $6K+ flight to West Africa. That’s far below what you’d get on similar-length flights elsewhere. I’ve even had friendly chats with flight attendants who admit they feel embarrassed by how certain routes are handled.
Plenty of customers notice it. My whole team has had similar experiences, even on Delta and United. It’s a global issue.
Agree, Lagos has a huge premium demand compared to other cities on the continent.
While that might be true, the real question is how does it compare to the premium in Western Europe?
I think the bigger issue is that the likely end points for premium demand to/from Lagos (London, Paris, NYC) aren't feasible connections for the middle eastern carriers with only Dubai really there as somewhere to travel tomorrow on Emirates/Turkish
Not quite true. Remember Air France offers La Première to/from Abidjan.
Hardly something limited to Africa. I lived in MAA for 5 years, when EK still had the A330 and A340, and was on a Emirates itinerary every month, sometimes more. MAA got the oldest planes, something the crew also mentioned while BOM and DEL got the relatively newer ones. Even now, LH flies an old A343 to MAA.
yep, i agree. MAA does have pretty bad aircraft flying to it. etihad used to fly their 787's to chennai but recently swapped back to their a320's.
in terms of the a380 however, i believe MAA isn't built to handle it
Lufthansa also flies old 343s to plenty of destinations in the YS including Washington and New York.
FRA to JFK is operated 2x daily with both the A343 and 744. Doubly surprising. Old equipment and no F. The EWR frequency does get a 748 though.
It's not just Emirates and "to/from Africa" or "Europe to USA".
Living in a not one of the largest cities in the US like NYC or LAX means that you have to wait longer for the "newest" products from European airlines if they even come at all. Even getting a direct flight is sort of like "oh we got thrown a bone." You want to fly on the newest, nicest products? Fly to a different gateway city first. IT's all market dependent.
See this complaint a fair bit and I think people just need to face reality. The demand and purchasing power is just a lot higher for other destinations. I don’t expect airlines to fly their best/biggest planes here in Ireland (or even to offer routes) because it’s a small market with much lower demand rhan other places. That’s not discrimination, it’s just reality.
"You’re not going to fly a Gulf carrier from Lagos to London"
Actually, London was one of the largest connecting markets for both QR and EK pre-COVID. The need for Nigerians to obtain special transit visas (at significant expense and hassle) just to board a connecting flight via an EU airport means that connections via the Middle East and East Africa are popular.
Nothing only that.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic charge astronomical fares for the direct flight. Connecting via Dubai or Doha can come at 50-70% off.
Saw a BA economy for £1,400
Got something on QR for £560
Premium economy and business class are even much worse (QR Q-suite for half the price or BA, Virgin old outdated seats)
You can even get first class availability on Emirates for what BA charges for business class.
Really ZEPHYR, do explain?
Actually, the average one-way fare from Lagos to London in 2024 on Virgin was $452 and on Emirates via Dubai was $491. Qatar Airways is at $693 one-way. Sure, BA has an average fare of $993 (heavily skewed by a lot of premium cabin O&D) but that isn't the case with Virgin who have seen their yields eroded badly (-14%) in 2024 after Air Peace's entry into the market as well as a 13% reduction in O&D volume.
Have always wondered if Air Peace has less disruptive pax ! .. lol
Would be nice to see them start service to TLV, IEV & SVO for starters ... !
@Sean M is this adjusted MIDT?
@PlanetAvgeek - actually those specific figures are IATA DDS data.
All flight prices are meaningless unless you quote the date of your enquiry, the date and time of the flight, total flight time (inc connection) and the seat class.
Comparing apples with pears is hardly cricket old bean.
@AeroB13a - which is why average fare over a 12 month period is the actual metric that can be used to compare pricing levels across carriers. Still not perfect of course, but better than single snapshots.
Sean, one has to agree with your logic and admit that it was not something which I had considered. Every single day is a school day and I have learned something worthwhile today, thank you.
I’m sure KQ has one of the lowest LOS-LON fares at about $175 or something … it involves having to overnight in NBO on her outbound but does include 2x Bags which is super handy. The fare and routing is popular for those lower down the food chain in NGA like first time students, etc.
KQ's average fare is $320 and it comes in above only Rwandair of the major carriers between Lagos and London.
A question for you Sean, almost everyone knows that VS has flown the route LHR-LOS for years, however, do you know that VK did so for a while too?
Yes, I know that very well. :)
They began operations to Gatwick from Lagos using the leased Virgin Atlantic A340-300 G-VBUS in 2005 and then added a second G-VSUN in 2006. They ran Gatwick daily and the second aircraft did Johannesburg and Dubai flights (JNB service lasted longer than DXB did).
When G-VBUS left the fleet in early 2007 they then leased bmi's A330 G-WWBD to Gatwick. Mid-2007 they switched ACMI provider to LatCharter (later...
Yes, I know that very well. :)
They began operations to Gatwick from Lagos using the leased Virgin Atlantic A340-300 G-VBUS in 2005 and then added a second G-VSUN in 2006. They ran Gatwick daily and the second aircraft did Johannesburg and Dubai flights (JNB service lasted longer than DXB did).
When G-VBUS left the fleet in early 2007 they then leased bmi's A330 G-WWBD to Gatwick. Mid-2007 they switched ACMI provider to LatCharter (later SmartLynx) on a pair of ex-Air Canada 767s (YL-LCY and YL-LCZ), and also began a once weekly Saturday only service to Heathrow in addition to their Gatwick services.
They eventually suspended all longhaul services in January 2009.
I flew on every single one of their longhaul fleet at some point or the other between London, Lagos and Johannesburg. Plus I also organised some sub-services for them when they had technical issues. So yeah, you could say I knew them pretty well!
One suspects that you know the following old saying Sean, one also suspects that its use below will be taken in jest?
“You are not a green as you are cabbage looking” …. :-)