Beond opens first fifth freedom route to compete with Emirates
Like a bolt out of the blue yesterday Beond, the all-business company that will debut at Malpensa Airport next month [...]
BeOnd
ZRH
Maldives
United Arab Emirates
Like a bolt from the blue yesterday Beond, the all business company that Will make its debut at Malpensa next July, launched its first route under fifth freedom and will thus allow passengers to fly not only to the Maldives, but also to take a ticket "just" to Dubai.
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What is new is that From Zurich there will be an opportunity to book a ticket to fly to Dubai And go down without continuing to the Maldives as is the case to date on all Beond flights.
Right now the one from Zurich is the only fifth freedom route on sale, but I think we may see the same choice on other routes such as Milan or Munich in the near future.
The company of the Maldives which today operates a technical stopover at Dubai Al Maktoum International, a stop necessary to refuel the A319 before taking off for Malé has with immediate effect opened sales of the Zurich/Dubai route, and vice versa.
The interesting thing is the selling price. There is no difference between buying a ticket to Dubai or the Maldives.
To be precise, the flight to the Maldives costs $13 more than the flight to Dubai.
Beond competition Emirates
If already with attractive prices and direct flights from some airports served by Emirates there was already competition between the two companies, Now with flights to Dubai, the challenge is total.
Of course it's funny to think about the competition between an A380 and an A319, but the situation will not be very different from what happens in Milan where Compagnie challenges Emirates on route to New York.
Of course it will be interesting to see how EK will react to this challenge. The size allows the Dubai giant to make an aggressive policy on price and knock out the small company which, I remind you, still have a fleet of only one A319 for a few more weeks.
In conclusion
From Zurich it will now be possible to travel to Dubai with Emirates or Beond, certainly the price is competitive, but it needs to be understood whether this action in the long run will not distort the nature of what was self-proclaimed as the first "all business airline for leisure travel" since people also fly to Dubai for business and not just for vacation.
