MIAMI: Jimmy Eichelgruen, Delta Airlines director of sales for Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, sees sustained levels of Middle East passengers on US-bound flights from Amman, Dubai and London, but predicts additional consolidation in the global airline industry.
“Airline consolidations and joint ventures are good for customers,” says Eichelgruen, who spoke with Arab News during Pow Wow, a three-day international travel convention hosted here by the US Travel Association, the newly branded name of Travel Industries of America. “These collaborations means passengers have more destinations to fly to at a lower price.”
Eichelgruen cited Delta’s acquisition last year of Northwest Airlines — a major air carrier to the Far East — and his company’s joint venture with Air France as examples of these collaborations.
“We have truly evolved into a worldwide air carrier,” he added. “As recently as 2006, our business was equally divided between domestic and international travel. Today, over 80 percent of our flights are to overseas destinations.”
This surge in travel is one of the reasons why Delta 777s take off each day from Dubai to Atlanta with almost every seat filled.
“We started our daily flights in October and it’s doing very well. It’s fantastic. We’re getting very high numbers of passengers,” said Eichelgruen. “The interesting thing for us is that despite the economic reports in the UAE, we’re still doing extremely well in Dubai. It’s been a real success story for Delta.”
Delta also flies to Amman and Cairo, but Eichelgruen said Delta would stop flying to Kuwait in July due to “lack of demand and the global economic situation.”
Delta opened an office in Beirut one month ago, says Eichelgruen.
“There’s a lot of potential traffic there,” he said. “There’s a huge Lebanese community in the US, where more Lebanese live than in Lebanon.”
Despite an eight-year decline in the global airline industry — precipitated by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attacks and sustained by the 2008 global recession — carriers operating out of the Middle East have lately seen an increase in passenger loads to the United States. Eichelgruen says this is largely due to a streamlined process for obtaining an American visa and the trend of American authorities issuing larger numbers of multiple-entry visas.
“America’s enhanced visa processes have also cut down on the sheer numbers of people waiting in line at US embassies or consulates,” Eichelgruen added.