Big fare cut by Emirates

Emirates, Dubai's flag carrier and the largest airline in the Middle East, is planning to cut fares. The airline that operates over 2,400 passenger flights per week aims to fill its 500-seat Airbus A380s with the proposed fare-cut. "Emirates will resist the urge to cut routes and flights as oil prices threaten the profitability of some destinations and instead aims to stir up demand with cheaper tickets," Tim Clark, President of Emirates, said. The airlines flies to 111 cities in 62 countries across six continents. "While cutting fares to sell tickets on the 517-berth planes will push up the occupancy level needed to break even, the impact of government spending cuts in many overseas markets means that strategy is more likely to succeed than one based on curbing capacity and raising fares, " Clark added. With an 80 percent occupancy level in the year to March 31, passenger traffic went up 14 percent to 31.4 million for Emirates, lifting net income 43 percent to AED5.93 billion ($1.6 billion) on sales. Emirates has 150 Airbus and Boeing jets, including 15 A380s. The airline has a 200-order book worth in excess of $68 billion.