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the government should protect its national airline, at least in its first years of operation but usually indefinitely, but this has never been the case for us. This was a farsighted policy and it has encouraged the development of a range of commerical disciplines that have been essential to our success.
Emirates, the Middle East's most profitable and forward-looking airline, took a giant step toward joining the first tier of global carriers with its decision to launch the A380 and then to become its biggest customer. Fending off rumors of impending retirement, CEO Maurice Flanagan talked to A TW about Emirates' success and future direction.
* Your competitors argue that Emirates prospers because of the funding of its owner, the Dubai government. How do you answer the critics?
We have become accustomed to one or two self-proclaimed experts in our industry declaring publicly that of course Emirates could not possibly achieve consistently profitable results without some form of hidden subsidy, despite our publication of transparent audited annual accounts. This has serious implications for other governments' decisions relating to traffic rights, as they might be persuaded to think that we have an unfair advantage over their national carriers. In fact we have no protection whatsoever, as Dubai has an open-skies policy, and no subsidy. Thus we have to be smart to survive and it follows that we must be smart at running our airline. We achieve what we achieve because of our staff; we get no help from the government.