- Re-establishes Singapore – Melbourne connection from 26 March
- Increases London flights to 11 a day from 1 May
Emirates has boosted operations by 31% (total Available Seat Kilometres) since the start of its financial year and has announced plans to further ramp up seat capacity in its latest published northern summer schedule starting 26 March 2023.
In the past months, the airline has planned and executed the rapid growth of its network operations – reintroducing services to five cities; launching flights to one new destination (Tel Aviv), adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes; and continuing the roll-out of service enhancements in the air and on the ground.
Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer said: “Emirates continues to expand its global network and deploy its capacity to meet travel demand across the world. Our financial year started relatively quietly as we held back our ramp up until the planned northern runway rehabilitation program at Dubai International airport was completed in June. From July 2022 onwards, it’s been non-stop expansion.”
He added: “Customer demand has been very strong, and our forward bookings are also robust. Emirates is working hard on several fronts – to bring back operating capacity as quickly as the ecosystem can manage, while also upgrading our fleet and product to ensure our customers always enjoy the best possible Emirates experience. So far, four of our A380 aircraft have been completely refurbished with our new cabin interiors and Premium Economy seats, and more will enter service as our US$ 2 billion cabin and service enhancement program picks up pace.”
In the coming months, established routes to Europe, Australia and Africa will be served with more Emirates flights, while in East Asia, more cities are seeing route restarts. The strengthening of the airline’s network and increased flight frequencies are set to boost Sri Lanka’s connections to the rest of the world, especially to and from cities such as London, Amsterdam, Venice and Cairo, and to Melbourne from Singapore.
Emirates said it will continue to scale up its A380 operations with the reintroduction of the iconic double-decker across its network, covering Glasgow from 26 March, Casablanca from 15 April, Beijing from 01 May, Shanghai from 04 June, Nice from 01 June, Birmingham from 01 July, Kuala Lumpur from 01 August, and Taipei from 01 August.
Emirates is also planning to enhance its route network with a range of new destinations and increased frequencies in various regions. In Europe, Emirates will increase its flights to Amsterdam from 14 to 19 weekly flights, effective from 02 April. Additionally, a daily seasonal service will be added to serve the summer demand in Athens, operating between 01 June to 30 September. Emirates will also be upgrading its Bologna route, from five flights a week to a daily service, starting 01 May. Budapest will also experience an increase in flights, from five flights a week to a daily service by 01 June. Furthermore, Emirates is starting a second daily service to London Stansted on 01 May, taking its London operations to 11 daily flights, which includes six times daily to London Heathrow and three times daily to Gatwick. The airline will also increase flights to Venice from five to six flights a week, effective from 26 March, with further plans to increase to a daily service from 01 June.
In Africa, Emirates will increase flights to Cairo from 25 to 28 weekly flights effective from 29 October, offering travellers greater connectivity and convenience. Additionally, Emirates will increase flights to Dar es Salam from five flights a week to daily flights, starting from 01 May. It will also upgrade its Entebbe route, from six flights a week to daily flights, starting 01 July.
Meanwhile, Emirates’ non-stop Australia flights will return to pre-pandemic levels to Sydney from 01 May, Melbourne from 26 March, and Brisbane on 01 June. An additional daily service starting from 01 June will take Emirates flights to Brisbane to 14 flights per week. It will also restart its daily service to Christchurch from Dubai via Sydney, effective from 26 March and will add a third flight to Melbourne from 26 March via Singapore. This adds capacity to Melbourne and re-establishes connectivity between Singapore and Melbourne. The other two daily flights from Melbourne fly non-stop to Dubai. Further, a third daily non-stop service to Sydney will be added from 01 May.
The Airline is also expanding its services in East Asia with new and increased flights. Starting from 01 August, a fifth daily service will be added to Bangkok. Emirates will also commence a daily non-stop Boeing 777-300ER service to Beijing on 15 March, which will be upgraded to an A380 effective from 01 May. Furthermore, a second daily service with an A380 will commence from 01 September. Hong Kong will also see an addition of a daily non-stop flight from Dubai from 29 March, bringing Emirates’ operations to 14 weekly flights, including its existing daily Dubai-Bangkok-Hong Kong service. Additionally, from 01 June, Emirates will add a third daily service to Kuala Lumpur. It will also resume services to Tokyo Haneda with daily flights from 02 April, taking Emirates’ Japan operations to 21 daily flights, including a daily A380 service to Tokyo-Narita and a daily Boeing 777 service to Osaka.