Emirates has announced adjustments to its operational schedules in 2019 to minimise the impact of the closure of Dubai International Airport’s Southern Runway in April and May, and to respond to global travel demand trends. The airline also outlined its fleet plans for the year.

Sir Tim Clark, president - Emirates Airline, said: “At Emirates, we pride ourselves on being a customer-focused airline with a commercially-driven business model. We invest in a modern and efficient aircraft fleet so we can offer industry-leading comforts to our customers, and we are agile in deploying our aircraft to destinations where it best serves customer demand.

“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 Dubai International Airport’s Southern Runway for maintenance work between April 16 and May 30.

Given the limitations around operating flights using a single runway at its hub, many Emirates flights will be cancelled, re-timed or have the operating aircraft changed in order to reduce impact on customers. This will result in up to 48 Emirates aircraft not being utilised, with a 25 per cent reduction in the overall number of flights operated by the airline during the 45-day period.

2019 network adjustments

Emirates will deploy additional flights to several markets in Africa starting in June 2019. The additional services will satisfy the increased demand that the airline has witnessed in these markets, and will offer customers even more seamless connections between these destinations and Emirates’ global network through Dubai. Cities in Africa that will be served by additional Emirates flights include:

Casablanca, Morocco: Emirates will operate a second daily flight starting June 1 to Casablanca. The service will be operated by Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft which will complement the airline’s existing daily Airbus A380 flight.

Abuja, Nigeria: Three additional flights will be operated every week on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to Abuja starting June 1 increasing the frequency to the Nigerian city to a daily service.

Accra, Ghana: Emirates will also augment its current flight frequency to the Ghanaian capital with four additional Boeing 777-300ER flights a week bringing Emirates’ total service to 11 weekly flights to Accra effective June 2.

Conakry, Guinea and Dakar, Senegal: The capitals of Guinea and Senegal will be serviced by one additional linked flight every week starting June 1 on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
 
Multiple destinations across Europe will also be served by additional Emirates flights during peak travel season leading up to and lasting through the summer of 2019. These destinations include:

Athens, Greece: Emirates will deploy a second daily flight to Athens between March 31 and October 26. The service will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft between March 31 and April 15 and between October 1 and October 26. During the busy summer months from May 31 to September 31, Emirates will deploy its Airbus A380 aircraft to meet additional demand. Emirates will not operate the second daily flight during the period of closure of Dubai Airport’s Southern Runway (April 16 – May 30).

Rome, Italy: The Italian capital will be served by three daily Emirates flights between March 31 and October 26. The third additional flight, operated with a Boeing 777-300ER, will be suspended during the Dubai Airport Southern Runway closure.

Stockholm, Sweden: Emirates will provide additional capacity to Sweden during July and August 2019 with a double daily service on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. This will allow additional passengers to travel to and from the Swedish capital during the peak summer season.
Zagreb, Croatia: As part of the strategic partnership between Emirates and flydubai, Emirates will once again begin operating its Boeing 777-300ER daily to Zagreb from March 31 until October 26. The daily service will be reduced to four times a week during the Dubai Airport Southern Runway closure.

In order to meet increased seasonal passenger demand Emirates will be introducing its Airbus A380 aircraft to destinations including:

Boston, USA: Emirates’ customers travelling to Boston will be able to experience the 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. Emirates’ A380 will operate to Boston between June 1 and September 30 and between December 1, 2019 and January 31, 2020, to accommodate the increased seasonal demand in travel to the US East Coast.

Glasgow, UK: Emirates will fly its flagship double-decker aircraft to Scotland for the first time between April 16 and May 31. The Emirates A380 daily service, with a total capacity of 489 seats, will replace the double daily Boeing 777-300ER service during the Dubai Airport Runway closure. From June 1 until September 30, Emirates will resume operating a double-daily service to Glasgow with one daily Boeing 777-300ER and one Airbus A380, offering additional capacity to meet increased travel demand during the summer season.

Emirates will also adjust its services into South America to optimise fleet utilisation. From June 1, the airline will deploy its newly refurbished two-class Boeing 777-200LR on its daily service from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro.  Offering wider Business Class seats laid out in 2-2-2 format and refreshed seats in Economy Class, this service will continue from Rio de Janeiro to the Argentinian capital city of Buenos Aires four times a week, and on the remaining three days it will operate onwards to Santiago, Chile.

With this change, Emirates 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, Emirates will suspend flights EK 418/419 between Bangkok and Sydney from June 1. Emirates will continue to serve Sydney with three flights a day non-stop to Dubai, and Emirates’ customers wishing to travel between Bangkok and Sydney will have flight choices provided by Emirates’ partner Qantas.

Effective March 31, Emirates will suspend EK 424/425 and serve Perth with a once daily Airbus A380 service non-stop from Dubai. 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 a seamless Emirates A380 experience between Perth and close to 20 destinations in Europe.

Operating a modern aircraft fleet

During the financial year 2019/20, 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. - TradeArabia News Service