Emirates will deploy its flagship A380 aircraft onto its existing Dubai–Milan–New York route starting from June 1.
As previously reported by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific (see here), the Gulf carrier began linking its Milan flights to New York last October, as it aimed to address the underserved transatlantic link between the two cities, both in terms of non-stop flights as well as a premium product offering.
The A380 superjumbo
Currently, the route is served by a B777-300ER and features a three-class configuration, with eight seats in first class, 42 in business and 310 in economy.
While the exact seating configuration of the A380 hasn’t been confirmed yet (Emirates has two different A380 seating layouts), the deployment of the superjumbo will result in a significant capacity increase across all cabin classes. In particular, the number of premium seats avilable will receive a boost, with both A380 configurations sporting 14 suites in first, and 76 in business. Only the seating capacity in economy will differ between the two available superjumbo configurations.
Business class
So why has Emirates decided to deploy the A380 onto this route? After all, logic would suggest that the capacity of the aircraft greatly exceeds the demand for the service. Well, growing competition between the “Big Three” gulf carriers could be a significant factor behind Emirate’s decision.
Both Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have strengthened their presence in North America over the past few months, and given that competition between the Big Three are at an all time high, Emirates’ move is unsurprising as it wishes to stay ahead of the pack.
The carrier made a similar move last year when it began deploying the A380 on its Dubai–Dallas/Fort Worth service (see here) – this after Etihad first announced that it would begin launching flights to the US city from December 3, 2014 (see here). Meanwhile, Qatar also began serving Dallas in July last year (see here).
For more information, visit emirates.com
Clement Huang
The A380 superjumbo
Currently, the route is served by a B777-300ER and features a three-class configuration, with eight seats in first class, 42 in business and 310 in economy.
While the exact seating configuration of the A380 hasn’t been confirmed yet (Emirates has two different A380 seating layouts), the deployment of the superjumbo will result in a significant capacity increase across all cabin classes. In particular, the number of premium seats avilable will receive a boost, with both A380 configurations sporting 14 suites in first, and 76 in business. Only the seating capacity in economy will differ between the two available superjumbo configurations.
Business class
So why has Emirates decided to deploy the A380 onto this route? After all, logic would suggest that the capacity of the aircraft greatly exceeds the demand for the service. Well, growing competition between the “Big Three” gulf carriers could be a significant factor behind Emirate’s decision.
Both Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have strengthened their presence in North America over the past few months, and given that competition between the Big Three are at an all time high, Emirates’ move is unsurprising as it wishes to stay ahead of the pack.
The carrier made a similar move last year when it began deploying the A380 on its Dubai–Dallas/Fort Worth service (see here) – this after Etihad first announced that it would begin launching flights to the US city from December 3, 2014 (see here). Meanwhile, Qatar also began serving Dallas in July last year (see here).
For more information, visit emirates.com
Clement Huang 
