Emirates and Canada

The Emirates and Canada story began on 29th October 2007 with the launch of three weekly, non-stop flights from Dubai to Toronto and vice versa. This is the maximum number of weekly flights we can operate under the current Air Transport Agreement between Canada and the UAE. Every year these flights operate at near capacity, consistently averaging over 90% seat occupancy. It is an indication there is plenty of demand to be catered to and a daily service between Toronto and Dubai could benefit travellers, businesses and tourism.

In the longer term we would also like to expand our services to more Canadian cities such as Calgary and Vancouver, in the same way that we have grown in other markets such as Australia, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Read more about Emirates’ operations in our factsheet Emirates and Canada(Opens a PDF in a new tab).

Dubai – a strong and growing export market

In 2017, the UAE was the largest merchandise export market for Canada in the Middle East and North Africa region.

• Canadian exports to the UAE reached CAD 1.6 billion in 2017, an increase of 41% over 2007, and its CAD 1.4 billion trade surplus with the UAE was Canada’s fourth largest globally.
• In Dubai there are over 150 Canadian companies doing business and 1,114 companies registered by Canadian citizens.
• Passenger and cargo traffic between Canada and the UAE – and Dubai in particular – is growing rapidly.
• In 2009, Canada and the UAE signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Trade and Investment, recognition of the tremendous potential for growth in commerce between Canada and the UAE. The two countries recently concluded a nuclear cooperation agreement (NCA), which will include supplying Canadian uranium and technology to the UAE.
• With an aim to re-energise the business relationship and to further promote trade and the strategic partnership between the two countries, the UAE and Canada launched a joint business council in Montreal, Canada in October 2013.
• Even Star Alliance member Air Canada has acknowledged the Dubai-Canada market is underserved as it began offering flights from Toronto to Dubai in November 2015.

We believe that increased access for Emirates to Canada would have a positive impact on Canada’s trade relationship with the UAE, facilitating the carriage of goods and people between the two countries. While the Canadian government promotes ‘open skies’ agreements, many of its own such agreements have been with countries which are less valuable export markets for Canada.

In countries where ‘open skies’ agreements have been reached, Canada’s trading relationship with these countries is markedly different compared with the UAE and Dubai:

Source: Statistics Canada & US Census Bureau

As the table demonstrates, the UAE is a significantly larger export market for Canada than most of the other listed countries where these ‘open skies’ agreements exist, with the exception of South Korea, Switzerland and Brazil. This further highlights the potential to significantly boost trade if Emirates flights to Canada were increased.

A new tourism source market for Canada

Canada’s tourism industry is suffering, with inbound traffic from traditional markets showing substantial decreases. According to Destination Canada, the country welcomed an estimated 19.97 million international overnight visitors in 2016, still short of the record 20.06 million arrivals in 2002. Provincial governments and tourism operators are desperately seeking to open new source markets, including the UAE.

UAE tourists are some of the most sought after in the world, spending on average CAD 10,000 per person, per week when on vacation. The average vacation stay for an Emirati in the USA is one month, though many will stay for up to eight weeks.

This same potential exists for Canada and Emirates has the ability to connect the country with these tourists. However, the opportunity is being lost because of existing flight restrictions. As outlined in the table below, other countries have opened their doors to increased Emirates services and the economic and tourism benefits that follow.

*The maximum number of Emirates weekly flights allowed under existing air services agreements between the UAE and the country in question.

Canada's opportunity

The strong commercial, tourism and economic benefits to Canada can only be fully realised by increasing the flight frequency entitlements under the current Air Transport Agreement between Canada and the UAE. Dubai has become a global economic player, providing a wide range of opportunities for Canadian businesses. Strengthening the relationship between Emirates and Canada with increased flights to and from Dubai would further promote trade, investment, tourism and employment, generating substantial economic and social benefits to Canada and its citizens.

There are some concerns about the increased competition with Air Canada if a daily Emirates service was launched between Dubai and Toronto, concerns which from our perspective are hugely exaggerated. Currently, at Toronto Pearson Airport our share of weekly international departures is 0.1%, while our share of international seat capacity is 0.4%, as opposed to Air Canada who have a 54% share of weekly international departures and 51% share of international seat capacity. With a daily service, Emirates’ share will increase marginally to just 0.3% and 1% respectively. These small increases are not at a level which would suggest additional Emirates flights pose a threat to Air Canada.

• In November 2015, Air Canada commenced a direct service from Toronto to Dubai, operating three times a week; as well as four weekly direct services from Toronto to Delhi (daily from 30 October 2016). There is no direct competitive overlap between Emirates and Air Canada in the Middle East, Africa or the South Asian Subcontinent since Air Canada does not operate services to any point in these regions apart from Dubai, Delhi and Mumbai.
• In relation to claims that we are reliant on third country traffic, our connecting traffic only complements the substantial and fast-growing Canada-UAE origin and destination traffic on our Dubai-Toronto flights. In carrying this connecting traffic, we also provide enhanced access between Canada and various regions of the world which are underserved or not served at all from Canada. Connecting passengers today represent a key part of the overall traffic mix for all network carriers – including Air Canada and its Star Alliance partners.
• To suggest that the commercial interests of Air Canada’s partners within Star Alliance (with its 28 member airlines, annual passengers of over 725.51 million, a fleet of over 4,700 aircraft and a 62% share of weekly international departures and 59% share of international seat capacity at Toronto Pearson Airport) would be seriously impacted by a daily Emirates service between Dubai and Toronto lacks credibility.
• In 2017 Air Canada's profit more than doubled to CAD 2.04 billion, compared with CAD 876 million in 2016. The company added 30 routes globally in 2017, and carried a record 48 million passengers.
• We always look to generate new demand rather than redistribute existing traffic. It is not our policy to engage in ‘capacity dumping’ or ‘predatory pricing’ – we price our product competitively in all markets.