Emirates has announced it will deploy a second Airbus A380 aircraft on the Dubai-Sydney route from June 1 onwards, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER on one of the three daily services.
The second A380 will be used on the early morning service that departs Dubai at 0215, arriving in Sydney at 2205. The 777-300ER will continue to be used on the third service between Dubai and Sydney, via Bangkok. The remaining service will continue to be flown by another A380. This change adds a 1,890 seats per week to the route.
This move coincides with the Qantas and Emirates joint business venture, which is poised to commence on March 31, pending regulatory approval (for details, view previous coverage here). “Adding larger capacity aircraft is central to our strategy of meeting growing passenger demand, while supporting trade between our two countries. A second A380 for Sydney also compliments our proposed plans for the partnership with Qantas,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ senior vice president of commercial operations in Far East and Australasia.
According to industry website, airlineroute.net, the carrier is also changing operations on the Dubai-Tokyo Narita route. Also from June 1 onwards, the carrier will replace the current A380 serving this route with a B777-300ER instead. This comes immediately ahead of the carrier’s plans to begin flights to Tokyo Haneda on June 3 (see story here), operated by a B777-200LR.
For more information, visit www.emirates.com
Alisha Haridasani
