Dubai-based carrier Emirates will increase its service to two major cities in Australia – Sydney and Melbourne – later this year.
Additionally, the airline will also restart services to Christchurch, New Zealand via Sydney. The Christchurch service via Sydney, beginning March 26, will reportedly offer the only opportunity for passengers between the two cities to fly on an A380.
The A380 flight will operate as EK412 an EK413. Emirates flight EK412 departs Dubai at 10.15am, arriving in Sydney at 7am. The flight will then continue, taking off from Sydney at 8.45am, arriving in Christchurch at 1.50pm. EK413 will then depart Christchurch at 6.20pm, arriving in Sydney at 7.40pm. The final leg of EK413 will depart to Dubai at 9.45pm, arriving at 5.15am. The airline’s new premium economy cabin will be available on this flight.
From March 26, Melbourne will increase from two to three daily services between Emirates’ Dubai hub via Singapore, with a third direct service to also begin to Sydney from May 1. The third flight will operate as EK404 using a Boeing 777-300ER and will depart Dubai at 9.15pm, arriving in Singapore at 8.50am. The flight will then continue on to Melbourne taking off at 10.25am from Singapore, arriving at 8.35pm. The return service to Dubai EK405 takes off from Melbourne at 3.25am, arriving in Singapore at 8.15am. The flight will then take off for Dubai at 9.40am, arriving at 1am.
From May 1, 2023, Emirates’ third daily flight between Dubai and Sydney, EK416, will depart Dubai at 9.30pm, arriving in Sydney at 5.20pm the next day. The return flight EK417, will depart Sydney at 10.10pm, arriving in Dubai at 4.30am. The airline currently serves Sydney with double daily A380 flights, and both services offer the airline’s premium economy seats for customers.
The airline recently announced double daily flights to Brisbane starting from June 1.
By the middle of this year, Emirates will therefore be operating 63 weekly services to Australia with the capacity to transport more than 55,000 passengers per week.
Melbourne and Sydney will be restored to flying at pre-pandemic levels. The new flights will also bolstering trade and business opportunities with the large 22-tonne freight capacity offered by the Boeing 777-300ER.
Adnan Kazim, chief commercial officer at Emirates Airline, said: “Adding a third daily service to Sydney and Melbourne will offer over 500,000 additional seats to and from Australia in a year. To have the two cities operating back at pre-pandemic frequencies is a phenomenal milestone in our restoration of Australia capacity.
“For over 25 years we have provided services for Australia since our first flight to Melbourne in 1996. During this time, we have transported over 40 million passengers and continued flying to Australia during the pandemic. We continue to record significant demand for our services, so we’re dedicated to offering Australians and travellers more options to travel, including the likes of our new premium economy cabin with Australia being one of the first markets to be offered this class.”
