Emirates has spent £19.5 million on its first dedicated lounge at London Heathrow. First and business class passengers can now relax in this 9,500 square-foot lounge with panoramic views over Heathrow's southern runway.
The lounge is located on Pier 6 in Terminal 3 and is spread over two levels. It will prove popular with passengers using any of Emirates' five daily flights out of Heathrow to Dubai and beyond.
"This new Heathrow lounge, and the ones we've opened at Melbourne and Singapore, are showstoppers in that they all overlook the runway," says Emirates' president Tim Clark.
The new lounge is spread over two levels, which means that when the A380 super jumbo enters service, premium passengers will be able to board the aircraft directly from the upper tier.
Pier 6, like Emirates' lounge, was timed for the A380's arrival this year. But the plane's entry into service has been delayed. Says Tim Clark: "The original plan was for the A380 to arrive this month but we're now looking at August 2008."
The carrier has an order for 43 A380s and they will be used in a variety of configurations depending on the route. There will be a high-density 631-seater two-class (business and economy) version for regional flights (like those to India and SE Asia) with a more spacious three-class layout found on those A380s operating the longer sectors to Europe, Australia and the US.
Tim Clark confirms that Emirates has finalised the A380's interior but he refuses to be drawn on the exact details other than saying that passengers will find it "interesting and innovative." He adds: "We promise to offer A380 passengers all the latest gizmos. And it's a blow [not to be able to offer the product now] because we had intended to bring it to market last month [October]."
In other news, Emirates launched its first transatlantic route last weekend. It's a daily three-class B777-300 link between Hamburg and New York JFK which originates in Dubai.
"We see a lot of potential for this service," says Tim Clark. "The market for Hamburg-New York comprises 239,000 passengers and many of these currently change planes en route in London, Paris CDG, Frankfurt and so on."
The only other carrier currently flying Hamburg-New York direct is Continental, whose daily B757 two-class services operates into Newark.
Another major development will see Emirates launch its first service to Latin America late next year. Along with Qatar Airways, which has also revealed its intention to service this region, both aim to fly non-stop between the Gulf and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Emirates will use a long range B777; Qatar is expected to use one of its new A340-600s. Exact dates and schedules are yet to be finalised.
Both carriers are racing to grab a slice of the increasing traffic flows between Brazil, the Middle East, Asia and China. There are currently no direct flights linking the two regions (although Air China will launch a twice-weekly B767 service routed Beijing-Madrid-Sao Paulo on December 10).
Passengers currently choose to fly carriers like Air France, BA, KLM and Lufthansa via their European hubs.
For more information go to emirates.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
