Emirates reveals £2.1bn impact of UK ops

Frontier estimates that Emirates’ UK operations, including the impact of the 83 unique one stop connections it offers, supported 29,700 jobs in 2013/14, equivalent to £2.1 billion (€2.8 billion) GDP. As the largest purchaser of the Airbus A380, Emirates’ investment has created 7,000 UK jobs required to construct parts for the 140 aircraft it has ordered, including its wings and leather upholstery. This equates to £434 million (€595 million) GDP.

According to the Dubai tourist board, DTCM, the UK remains the third biggest source market for international visitors. In 2014, Dubai saw 844,691 UK tourists; an increase of 11.3% on the previous year. A strong aviation industry and expanding UK infrastructure has had a similar influence on the level of inbound tourism. According to the latest figures from Visit Britain, the UK welcomed a record 34.8 million visits from overseas tourists in 2014, contributing £21.7bn to the economy.

A growing appetite for Dubai and the Far East, as both a travel and commerce destination amongst British holiday makers, business travellers and enterprise, has been an important factor in helping Emirates’ growth. In the last 30 years, Emirates has seen its operation grow from a single flight between London Gatwick to Dubai, to 112 outbound flights a week. The introduction of a third daily Birmingham to Dubai service from August 2015 means Emirates will exceed 6,000 (6,068) annual flights from the UK to the Middle East for the first time, carrying approximately 2.2 million passengers.

Sir Tim Clark (above), President of Emirates Airline, commented: “The UK has been a key market for Emirates ever since the launch of our first flight nearly 30 years ago. Our operation has grown significantly as a result of the UK’s appetite for both travel and trade to Dubai, and beyond. We will soon offer 119 flights a week from five major cities, and we have every ambition to continue our rate of growth alongside our customers’ demand for our industry leading service.

“Frontier’s report illustrates just how important the aviation industry is to the UK economy. Emirates’ alone supports over 30,000 UK jobs through our operations and our aircraft purchases from Airbus. By stimulating demand for travel and cargo, especially in markets underserved by other airlines, Emirates significantly contributes to the economies of the communities in which we serve.”

UK trade has also been a key beneficiary of both Emirates’ and the wider industry’s growth. The HMRC reported in December that non-EU exports for the year 2014 are £163.5 billion, and imports are £196.9 billion, of which air cargo has played a key role. Emirates alone carries 117,000 tonnes of cargo to and from the UK each year.

Dan Elliott, founder and Director of Frontier Economics, commented: “A key feature of the activity supported by Emirates is that it is dispersed around the UK regions, because of the way Emirates connects secondary cities to the rest of the world. Emirates provides unique direct services to Dubai, from Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow and a further 83 unique one-stop connections between these cities and Africa, Asia and Australia. These services facilitate trade and investment between the UK regions and key growing markets overseas.”

As a business, Emirates also invests heavily in British goods and services, spending approximately £1.2 billion (€1.7 billion) each year. Andrew Browning, from Andrew Muirhead & Son Limited, a Glasgow-based leather manufacturer which supplies the leather for all Emirates’ Business Class and First Class seating, commented: “We greatly value the excellent, longstanding relationship we have across the Emirates organisation. They have rightly earned their excellent reputation as an airline and are, in every respect, an exemplary customer to work with and helps support over 100 manufacturing jobs in Glasgow.”