|
Emirates has announced adjustments to its operational schedules in 2019 to minimise the impact of the closure of Dubai International Airport's Southern Runway between 16th April and 30th May, 2019, and to respond to global travel demand trends.
Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline, said, "The changes we are implementing to our network schedules in 2019 are in line with this approach, taking into consideration global market dynamics and operational limitations including the maintenance work on Dubai Airport's Southern Runway. Through the year, we will continue to keep a close watch on global markets and will maintain our flexibility to optimise the usage of our aircraft assets."
A significant number of scheduled Emirates flights will be impacted by the closure of the runway. This will result in up to 48 aircraft not being utilised, with a 25 percent reduction in the overall number of flights operated by the airline during the 45-day period.
Emirates will deploy additional flights to several markets in Africa starting in June 2019. The airline will operate a second daily flight starting 1st June, 2019, to Casablanca, Morocco. The service will be operated by Emirates' Boeing 777-300ER aircraft which will complement the airline's existing daily Airbus A380 flight.
Three additional flights will be operated every week on a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to Abuja starting 1st June, 2019, increasing the frequency to the Nigerian city to a daily service.
The airline will also augment its current flight frequency to the Ghanaian capital, Accra, with four additional Boeing 777-300ER flights a week, bringing total service to 11 weekly flights to Accra from 2nd June, 2019.
Conakry and Dakar, the capitals of Guinea and Senegal, respectively, will be serviced by one additional linked flight every week starting 1st June, 2019, on a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Multiple destinations across Europe will also be served by additional flights during peak travel season leading up to and lasting through the summer of 2019.
A second daily flight will be deployed to Athens, Greece, between 31st March and 26th October, 2019. The service will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft between 31st March and 15th April, 2019, and between 1st October and 26th October, 2019. During the busy summer months from 31st May to 31st September, an Airbus A380 aircraft will be deployed to meet additional demand. The second daily flight will not be operated when the runway is closed.
The Italian capital, Rome, will be served by three daily flights between 31st March and 26th October. The third additional flight, operated with a Boeing 777-300ER, will be suspended during the runway closure.
As part of the strategic partnership between Emirates and flydubai, Emirates will once again begin operating its Boeing 777-300ER daily to the Croatian capital, Zagreb, from 31st March to 26th October, 2019. The daily service will be reduced to four times a week during the closure.
In order to meet increased seasonal passenger demand, the Airbus A380 aircraft will be introduced to a number of destinations: Customers travelling to Boston, United States, will be able to experience the A380, world's largest commercial aircraft famed for its onboard lounge accessible to first and business class passengers as well as the onboard shower spas for first class customers. The A380 will operate to Boston between 1st June and 30th September, 2019, and between 1st December, 2019, and 31st January, 2020, to accommodate the increased seasonal demand in travel to the East Coast.
The airline will fly its flagship double-decker aircraft to Scotland for the first time between 16th April and 31st May, 2019. The A380 daily service, with a total capacity of 489 seats, will replace the double daily Boeing 777-300ER service during the closure. From 1st June, 2019, to 30th September, 2019, the double-daily service to Glasgow with one daily Boeing 777-300ER and one Airbus A380, will be resumed to meet the increased travel demand during the summer season.
Emirates will also adjust its services to South America to optimise fleet utilisation. From 1st June, 2019, the airline will deploy its newly refurbished two-class Boeing 777-200LR on its daily service from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Offering wider business class seats laid out in 2-2-2 format and refreshed seats in the economy class, this service will continue from Rio de Janeiro to the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires four times a week, and on the remaining three days it will operate onwards to Santiago, Chile.
With this change, the airline will suspend its linked flight from Dubai to Santiago via Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo will continue to be served with a daily non-stop Airbus A380 service to and from Dubai.
With a view to providing more efficient and direct connection options for customers travelling to and from Australia, flights EK 418/419 between Bangkok and Sydney will be suspended from 1st June, 2019. There will be three non-stop flights a day between Sydney and Dubai, and customers wishing to travel between Bangkok and Sydney will have flight choices provided by Emirates' partner Qantas.
Effective 31st March, 2019, flights EK 424/425 will be suspended and there will be a once-daily Airbus A380 service non-stop from Dubai to Perth. Emirates customers travelling from Perth will continue to enjoy rapid two-way connections through Dubai to over 38 destinations in Europe, and a further 16 cities in Europe via Emirates' codeshare partner flydubai. Customers will also be able to enjoy the seamless A380 experience between Perth and nearly 20 destinations in Europe.
During the financial year 2019-2020, Emirates will take delivery of six new Airbus A380 aircraft. At the same time, the airline will be renewing its fleet by retiring seven older Boeing 777 aircraft. Emirates took delivery of its last Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in November 2018 and will commence taking deliveries of the next generation Boeing 777Xs in 2020.
|
New
