With an aim of operating 63 weekly services before the middle of the year to Australia with the capacity to transport more than 55,000 passengers per week to and from its major cities, Emirates is increasing its services to two major cities – Sydney and Melbourne.
The Dubai airline will also restart services to Christchurch, New Zealand via Sydney. It will be the first time that the route between these two major cities will be served by an A380, Emirates’ flagship aircraft.
Emirates flight services
Melbourne and Sydney will be restored to flying at pre-pandemic levels. Melbourne will have three daily services starting 26 March. The new service will be via Singapore, which was a popular route before the pandemic. The third direct service to Sydney starts from 1 May.
EK416 to Sydney will depart Dubai at 2130hrs and its destination at 1720hrs the next day. The return flight EK417, will depart Sydney at 2010hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0430hrs.
EK404 to Melbourne via Singapore will depart Dubai at 2115hrs, arriving in Singapore at 0850hrs. It then takes off for Melbourne at 1025hrs, with scheduled arrival at 2035hrs local time. The return service to Dubai – EK405 – departs Melbourne at 0325hrs, arriving in Singapore at 0815hrs for one hour 25 minute stop. It reaches Dubai at 1300hrs local time.
The Christchurch service via Sydney restarts 26 March, and the A380 will operate as EK412 and 413. EK412 departs Dubai at 1015hrs, arriving in Sydney at 0700hrs. The flight will then continue, taking off from Sydney at 0845hrs, arriving in Christchurch at 1350hrs. EK413 will depart Christchurch at 1820hrs, arriving in Sydney at 1940hrs. The final leg will depart for Dubai at 2145hrs, arriving at 0515hrs local time.
The two new services will operate on a three-class Boeing-777 300ER offering passengers Economy, Business and First Class seats. The uplift in capacity supports the revival of tourism by providing travellers with even more access to and from Australia, as well as bolstering trade and business opportunities with the large 22-tonne freight capacity of the Boeing 777-300ER.
Emirates had also announced two daily services to Brisbane, which starts from 1 June.
The Dubai-Melbourne service provides a connectivity option between Singapore and Melbourne to serve the strong demand between the two cities, as well as offer customers a differentiated product and service experience.
Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Airline, said: “Adding a third daily service to Sydney and Melbourne will offer over 500,000 additional seats to and from Australia in a year. To have the two cities operating back at pre-pandemic frequencies is a phenomenal milestone in our restoration of Australia capacity and testament to our longstanding commitment to flying Down Under.
“For over 25 years, we have provided services for Australia since our first flight to Melbourne in 1996. During this time, we have proudly transported over 40 million passengers. We continue to record significant demand for our services, so we’re dedicated to offering Australians and travellers more options to travel, including the likes of our new Premium Economy cabin with Australia being one of the first markets to be offered this class.”
Lorie Argus, Melbourne Airport CEO, added: “It’s great news for customers as it provides extra capacity for the strong demand we’re seeing for travel from Melbourne to Europe and Asia. It’s also great news for Victorian exporters, with the Boeing 777-300 aircraft providing additional freight opportunities into Asia and the Middle East.”
Geoff Culbert, Sydney Airport CEO, welcomed Emirates’ new services and added: “These extra flights are another important step towards Australia’s international aviation recovery, providing much needed additional capacity to meet the high demand for travel.
“We are also pleased to see the A380 return on the trans-Tasman after a three-year hiatus, adding extra seats to meet the strong appetite for travel between Sydney and New Zealand.”
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