Oman Air boss claims Euro airlines lack vision
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European carriers are envious of the Gulf airlines they have accused of receiving state subsidies and lack the vision to emulate their competitors, Oman Air CEO Peter Hill has claimed. “It’s a case of sour grapes,” Hill told TDME during an exclusive interview at last week’s World Travel Market (WTM).”The Gulf carriers are making big in-roads into major markets and making investment in product and equipment that’s second to none - which European carrier is bold enough to do anything that we are doing?”Hill continued: “If I was a CEO of one of the European carriers, I would be looking inwards, not outwards, and asking: ‘How come I am not bold enough? Why have I not had the vision [that the heads of Gulf carriers have had]?”He said European airlines had not been making sufficient investments in product and “deserved” to be “pushed off their perch” by their rivals in the Gulf.In a dig at British Airways, which stops at Abu Dhabi en-route to Muscat from London, Hill said: “Who wants to be woken up in Abu Dhabi on a second-rate piece of equipment?”In comparison, Oman Air flies direct from London to the capital of the Sultanate of Oman and operates brand new A330s on this route.”Fifteen years ago BA was riding the crest of the wave,” Hill continued. “It had a great product. When you run an airline [like that], you need to find a balance between rewarding shareholders and investing in product.”BA’s CEO Willie Walsh has not been backward in coming forward when it comes to voicing his concerns about the competitive threat posed by the Gulf airlines.He has accused carriers such as Emirates as being subsidised by the Dubai Government.Walsh and Air France Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon last month slammed a trade deal between the US and Europe, which they claimed were in effect, funding Emirate’s global expansion plans while stifling those of its European and American rivals.The deal prohibits government credit guarantees to airlines based in the home countries of Airbus and Boeing, including BA, Lufthansa, and United-Continental, while allowing export credits to the Middle East.”We have been slow in the UK and in Europe to recognise the competitive threat,” said Walsh. “We are financing our competitors by providing them with cheap access to capital. This is a very significant threat.”Emirates President Tim Clark responded to Walsh’s claims by arguing that European governments recognised the importance of Emirates’ growth strategy.”They will tell you, ‘The last thing we want to do is to upset Emirates’,” he said. “We are the only ones buying aircraft.”Clark also rejected claims by Walsh that Emirates was receiving state subsidies.”You prove a subsidy and I will resign the next day. It is completely wrong,” he stressed.
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