Emirates has announced that it will be upgrading its services to Sydney to an all-A380 operation. With all three of Emirates’ slots already in use at Sydney airport, the airline is able to commit nearly 2,000 extra weekly seats with the upgrade to its double-decker aircraft on its third daily flight, starting 4 November 2023.
The Emirates A380 service, set in a three class configuration offering 489 seats, will replace the Boeing 777-300ER currently being deployed on EK 416 and 417. Each return flight adds more than 260 extra daily seats and more connection opportunities to and from Dubai, and global access to popular onwards destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The third A380 service will complement the two other Sydney A380 four-class services, which both offer Emirates’ latest Premium Economy cabin.
Emirates currently operates 63 weekly services to Australia, offering close to 56,000 seats to and from its four major gateways. Melbourne and Sydney operate three times daily, Brisbane is served with double daily flights, and the airline also operates its flagship A380 daily to Perth. Emirates has also reintroduced services from Melbourne to Singapore, in addition to connecting Sydney with Christchurch, offering travellers the only A380 experience across the Trans-Tasman.
Return to Adelaide
The introduction of the Emirates Airbus A350 in the winter of 2024 will facilitate further expansion of the airline’s global network by allowing its fleet to grow and freeing up more of Emirates’ long-range aircraft to serve points like Adelaide. The airline is in close discussions with Adelaide Airport to recommence nonstop services as part of its commitment to reconnect travellers from every corner of Australia to its network.
Barry Brown, Emirates Divisional Vice President Australasia said: “With the triple daily A380 service, Emirates continues to connect Australians to Dubai and onwards to a wealth of iconic destinations. Emirates’ addition of nonstop services to Adelaide is in lockstep with our commitment to Australia to expand and improve connectivity options for travellers. We can’t wait to be back in Adelaide and once again play a key role in South Australians’ international travel plans. We’re very close to resuming our full schedule of pre-pandemic non-stop services and we’re working hard to match capacity with demand as more aircraft roll back into service. There has been a lot of discussion around airfares in Australia in relation to shortfall of capacity, which is only one of several factors that impact ticket prices. Similar to many other sectors, across the aviation industry our highest operating expenses have surged. There has been a sharp rise in fuel, ground handling, catering, and workforce costs as we try to attract and retain the right talent. Even as more capacity comes back into Australia, airlines, especially those with long-haul services, will continue to face challenges in striking a balance to offset these costs where possible. In spite of these challenges, we’re committed to strengthening our schedules as much as we can, and offering the essential connectivity that Australian travellers have come to know and expect of us.”
The third Sydney A380 flight will depart from Dubai at 2130hrs, arriving in Sydney at 1820hrs local time. The returning flight departs Sydney at 2110hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0430hrs local time.
Emirates continues to expand the deployment of its flagship A380 to meet ever increasing travel demand globally. Today, the airline flies its flagship A380 to over 50 destinations, with more cities set to welcome the aircraft in the coming months.
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