Nearly two weeks ago, Australian flag-carrier, Qantas announced plans to significantly rewrite its joint venture with Emirates and shift operations from Dubai to Singapore. Now, Emirates has unveiled a first look at the Dubai-based airline’s Australian operations once Qantas pulls out of its current stopover destination.
On the exact same day as Qantas switches its Sydney-Dubai-London service to Sydney-Singapore-London, Emirates is going to add a fourth Airbus A380 service to the Australian city. The additional service will see an additional 6,846 seats per week available between the two cities. Service will commence on 25th March 2018.
That works out to a 7.3% increase in capacity on Emirates operated aircraft with the airline saying the new service will offer a seamless A380 to A380 connection service between 49 destinations in the airline’s global network.
When Qantas announced its intention to quit Dubai, the airline’s chief executive, Alan Joyce said it was because the joint venture with Emirates had “evolved”. He explained: “Qantas no longer needs to fly its own aircraft through Dubai, and that means we can redirect some of our A380 flying into Singapore and meet the strong demand we’re seeing in Asia.”
The news was welcomed by frequent flyers with many commenting that they had worn weary of Dubai and would much rather transit through Singapore. Yet despite, Qantas soon offering a popular layover destination, be sure to expect Emirates to offer fantastic fare options to entice travellers onboard their aircraft.
Tim Clark, the President of Emirates has said his airline remains “committed to the partnership” with Qantas and that further announcements would be made “in the coming weeks.” This looks to be the first such update on how Emirates will reposition itself in Australia.
The airline currently operates 77 weekly flights between Dubai and Australia with direct flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Earlier this year, Emirates said it would add a third daily flight to Brisbane, using one of the airline’s few Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The additional service will begin in December.
Melbourne is also set for an upgrade with all three flights to the city being served by an Airbus A380 from March 2018. Emirates is set to receive its 100th Airbus A380 later this year – further cementing its status as the world’s largest operator of the superjumbo.
