[Alex McWhirter]

Emirates already operates six daily A380 services into London Heathrow from Dubai.

But for a few peak days over the festive season it will be operating as many as seven flights according to Airlineroute.

Emirates’ seventh flight is being operated by a B777-300ER on a number of peak travel days. Readers wanting to travel either to or beyond Dubai will find it easier to obtain availability.

Details are already posted on Emirates.com

The extra flight will operate December 15 to 17 inclusive and from January 5 to 7 inclusive.

Flights are:

EK2642 LHR-DXB 2110-0800 (arrive following day)
EK2641 DXB-LHR 1515-1915

[capetonianm]

There’s a thin borderline between this type of posting being advertising or news.

[Alex McWhirter]

It wasn’t meant that way, capetonian. As a staff member of this magazine I naturally have no commercial interest in this airline.

I started this thread purely as a reader service. As you know from your airline experience, these dates are peak of peak and therefore readers would now find more availability.

Emirates itself, at the time of writing, has not issued any media statement regarding these extra services.

[traveldoc1]

Be assured that some of us at least, Alex, appreciate the service to BT readers!

[stevescoots]

Its good to know, I dont see it as advertising

[capetonianm]

I didn’t intend to imply that there was a commercial interest on the part of anyone at BT and I suppose it may be of interest to some readers (clearly not to me as I will never fly EK), but if the flights are loaded in the GDSs, the extra capacity will automatically be reflected when an availability request is made whether via a GDS, OLTA, or EK’s own website.

Anyway, seems I’m in a minority (for a change!) on this.

[openfly]

The extra flight will give Dubai police even more Brits to arrest on spurious charges!!

[MarkivJ]

Is there really that much demand? I’ve had friends who’ve travelled during peak and non peak times from London (both lgw and lhr) in both J and Y, and several
Folks have told me the J is rarely more than 50% full. Sounds like they just have a whole lot of aircraft and don’t know what to do with it!

[capetonianm]

I read somewhere recently that EK’s average network load actor is 64%. I find that very hard to believe, but if true it would bear out MarkivJ’s comment above.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=833761]I read somewhere recently that EK’s average network load actor is 64%. I find that very hard to believe, but if true it would bear out MarkivJ’s comment above.
[/quote]

It’s 75.1%.

Good to see EK putting on extra capacity at a time of year when flights are regularly rammed.

[wowzimmer]

Great to offer additional capacity when it is most needed (if that is the case) but disappointing for the passenger experience – a big variation between the product offered on an Emirates A380 and 777.

[Alex McWhirter]

MarkivJ – Emirates is hugely popular over the festive season. It’s not just Dubai. It’s the many thousands of travellers connecting in the Gulf for onward destinations in Africa, India, SE Asia and Australasia. And the traffic is two-way.

I’ve roughly checked a few fares for the best connections covering the peak of peak weekends travel in both directions. Out December 16, back January 7. Prices vary depending on travel dates and chosen flights.

London Heathrow -Dubai-Bangkok is priced at around £1,250 economy and £3,470 in business. First class costs about £5,500 but it isn’t offered on all sectors.

London Heathrow-Dubai-Sydney is priced around £1,925 for economy and just under £7,000 (seven thousand) for business. First class costs around £8,200.

London Heathrow-Dubai-Cape Town is priced around £1,550 for economy and around £5,900 for business. First class for good connections varies between £4,850 and £6,000. But first class is in high demand. For the return flight from Cape Town on January 7 only one flight still had first class availability. All the others were fully booked in first.

[AMcWhirter]

There will also be extra capacity added at LGW to alleviate the seat shortage. Some A380 services will be operated by the 2-class 615-seater variant. There will also be a number of additional B777-300ER flights at LGW.

Details available via routesonline.com

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/275434/emirates-london-gatwick-service-changes-in-4q17/

[AlanOrton1]

Alex – given LHR is normally slot restricted, do you have any idea how EK is able to operate these additional flights?

Is it simply by paying a fee to the owners of LHR for this short term additional usage?

Or are they likely to have ‘borrowed’ another airline’s slots on these days?

[AMcWhirter]

Alan – Emirates has been asked but so far has not commented. The situation regarding LHR slots is a murky one and I wouldn’t wish to speculate.

One must also note that a slot covers both the runway and the terminal.

You may recall the problem faced by Oman Air who, having paid Kenya Airways US$75 million for a single slot, then discovered the slot it purchased was for use at a different terminal. However the situation was eventually resolved.

Oman Air splits Heathrow operation

[Author]

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