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Emirates says Delta tantrum led to a six-hour flight delay

An Emirates 777 was delayed for six hours at Seattle during a search for a spare part. (Image: Emirates)

An Emirates 777 was delayed for six hours at Seattle during a search for a spare part. (Image: Emirates)

How much does Delta hate the Big Three Middle Eastern airlines? Apparently quite a bit, based on a new allegation from Emirates.

Last spring, Delta was so upset about Qatar Airways holding a special event in Atlanta’s historic Fox Theater that Delta canceled its sponsorship of the venue.  And now Emirates is charging that an apparent snit by Delta officials caused a six-hour delay in an Emirates departure from Seattle to Dubai this week.

According to Bloomberg News, an Emirates 777 at Seattle had a mechanical problem that required the replacement of a minor part in its hydraulic system. Since Emirates has no significant maintenance presence at SEA, it looked to other airlines there for a replacement part and found one at Delta. This is said to be common practice among airlines regardless of their competitive relationships.

Bloomberg said Delta’s local engineering office provided the $300 part, and it was installed on the Emirates 777 – but Emirates said that a Delta official at Atlanta headquarters called and ordered Seattle employees to take back the part. A Delta spokesman told Bloomberg that the part in question was the only one of that type Delta had at Seattle, so it had to keep the part in case it needed it.

Emirates then had to scramble around to find the spare part somewhere else, and eventually located one Alaska Airlines, which is a code-sharing partner of the Dubai-based carrier. The result of the situation was a departure delay of almost six and a half hours for the Emirates flight.

Atlanta's Fox Theater lost Delta's sponsorship after Qatar Airways held a party there last year. (Image: Fox Theater)

Atlanta’s Fox Theater lost Delta’s sponsorship after Qatar Airways held a party there last year. (Image: Fox Theater)

Delta, American and United have been trying for many months to get the U.S. government to clamp down on Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways by restricting their access to U.S. markets. The U.S. carriers allege that their Middle Eastern rivals are unfairly subsidized by their governments.

The CEOs of United and Delta, along with other carrier chiefs, met with President Donald Trump this week (American’s CEO had a scheduling conflict) and raised the issue of unfair competition from the Gulf States airlines. But according to news coverage of the meeting, Trump reportedly declined to do anything to block the Middle Eastern airlines, citing their large purchases of U.S.-made aircraft and engines, as well as other investments in the U.S. by their governments.

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More cheap flights across the Atlantic?

Air France's bhub at Paris Charles de Gaulle. (Image: Parisinfo.com)

Air France’s hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle. (Image: Parisinfo.com)

As ultra-low-cost carriers and well-financed Middle Eastern airlines continue to expand internationally and capture more global market share, Air France-KLM and British Airways are trying new strategies to fight back with cheap flights.

Air France-KLM just announced it will create a new long-haul operation – it currently calls the project ‘Boost’ – to be based at Paris Charles de Gaulle, as a “response to the Gulf State airlines which are developing at low production costs on key markets where Air France-KLM is pursuing its growth ambition.” And British Airways is mounting a competitive response to Norwegian on a pair of North American routes, using reconfigured aircraft with more seats that will permit lower operating costs. (Note those new nonstops just announced between Oakland & London- resulting in a nice fare war putting cheapest flights in the $500 roundtrip range)

Air France-KLM said that the new company, which will have 10 long-haul planes by 2020, “will propose a simple, modern and innovative offer, whose positioning will not be low cost. It will offer its customers business and leisure destinations with standards comparable to those of Air France in terms of product quality and the professionalism of the crews.” But it said the new operating unit will be “competitive and innovative,” and will serve as a laboratory for new products, technology, catering, cabin design and customer service innovations.

The company said Boost will allow it “to go on the offensive by opening new routes, reopening routes closed due to their lack of profitability and maintaining routes under threat.” It is expected to start operating in about a year, initially focusing on routes to Asia.

British Airways B777

British Airways will fly nonstop between Oakland and London-Gatwick using a Boeing 777-200ER (Photo: British Airways)

British Airways, meanwhile, is focusing on long-haul competition to the U.S. from ultra-low-cost competitor Norwegian. BA recently announced plans to start flying next year to Ft. Lauderdale and to Oakland from Norwegian’s U.K. base at London Gatwick instead of BA’s big hub at London Heathrow. Norwegian already flies both of those routes from Gatwick.

And news came out this week that BA’s new Gatwick routes will eventually use reconfigured 777s that are packed with more seats. According to the U.K. publication Business Traveller, BA plans to increase economy seating in its Gatwick-based 777s from nine-across to 10-across. The aircraft will still offer Club World business class, but with the seat count in that cabin decreased from 40 to 32. The total seat count on the planes will grow from 280 to 332.

BA said the reconfiguration will give its Gatwick-based 777s a lower per-seat operating cost than Norwegian’s 787 Dreamliners.

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