Emirates (EK, Dubai International) is looking to the Saudi market to absorb the surplus capacity it is seeing following its recent decision to reduce service to the United States.

Earlier this year, the Dubai-based carrier said between May 1 and July 1, it would gradually reduce the frequency of flights to each of Fort Lauderdale International, Orlando International, Seattle Tacoma International, Boston, and Los Angeles International citing diminished demand for travel to the United States. Among the measures blamed include the US government's decisions relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins.

As such, airline president Tim Clark told a media gathering at last week's Paris Air Show that as a result of the reduction in US flights, Emirates had had to redeploy eight aircraft elsewhere after grounding thirteen jets.

According to Reuters, Clark said as a possible remedy to its overcapacity woes, Emirates was looking to market the other five grounded aircraft to the Saudi charter niche given the impending start of the Hajj pilgrimage season.

"I am optimistic that we will get more access to Saudi and that’s quite important to us because that’s a very powerful market," he said.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Saudi Arabia is currently Emirates' second largest market by weekly seating capacity entailing 32,836 seats used to serve Dammam, Jeddah International, Madinah, and Riyadh.