Emirates Celebrates Successful First Year on Non-Stop Route

Emirates Celebrates Successful First Year on Non-Stop Route

Upgrading the aircraft type to the double-decker A380 on its daily non-stop service between Auckland and Dubai was one of the key reasons for a successful first year on the route, the world’s longest A380 flight, says Emirates.

Emirates today (2 March) celebrated 12 months since the first arrival on the non-stop route, flown firstly with a 266-seat Boeing 777-200LR and then, since 30 October last year with the A380, providing up to 491 seats. The upper deck on the A380s features 14 first class suites and 76 business class pods, as well as shower spas up front and an onboard lounge at the rear.

“The Boeing 777-200LR was an ideal aircraft to start with on the route and we have been able to build on that successful launch period with the upgrade in capacity provided by our flagship A380s,” said Emirates’ New Zealand Regional Manager, Chris Lethbridge.

“The A380’s introduction on the non-stop flight last October after only eight months’ of Boeing 777 operation at very high load factors, was a very successful move for us, especially as we can now offer A380 service all the way from New Zealand to a number of destinations in Europe with only one stop, at our Dubai hub, and a simple six- to seven-hour journey beyond.

“And from a customer’s point of view we have been able to offer a total consistency of product, with A380s also on our three daily services from Auckland, and daily flight from Christchurch, via Australia to Dubai and beyond.”

In its first year of operation on the non-stop route between Auckland and Dubai, Emirates enjoyed an overall load factor of more than 80% (with the A380, available capacity is dependent on projected daily flight times).

The average flight time northbound has been 16 hours 57 minutes and southbound the duration (usually with tail winds) has been 15 hours 38 minutes; somewhat better than scheduled flight times.

This has given passengers the opportunity to watch several full-length films, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, topped up with a popular television series box set or two and music choices from across the decades.

Over the past year, more than 210,000 meals have been provided in-flight on the Dubai non-stop route.

Emirates now has 93 Airbus A380s in its fleet and a further 49 on order. Among its A380 destinations in Europe are:

London (Heathrow and Gatwick), Manchester and Birmingham in the UK; Paris, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid, Barcelona; and other popular cities such as Moscow, Zurich, Prague, Vienna, Copenhagen and (from March 26) Casablanca. Travellers can enter UK-Europe through one airport and return from another.

Emirates has been strongly supporting New Zealand’s tourism industry, in 2016 carrying more than 1.1 million passengers to and from New Zealand in a year in which the nation’s export earnings from tourism reached a record NZ$10.1 billion.

All of Emirates’ services to and from New Zealand offer First Class private suites, lie-flat seats in Business Class and comfortable Economy Class seating. Several courses of gourmet foods and award-winning wines are complimentary on all flights. Free wifi is also available in all three cabins, as is Emirates’ famous ice inflight information, communication and entertainment system, offering more than 2500 channels in widescreen digital format. Emirates has generous free baggage allowances – up to 35kg for Economy Class passengers, 40kg for Business Class and 50kg for First Class.

To read more about the Emirates A380, go to:

https://www.emirates.com/nz/english/flying/our_fleet/emirates_a380/emirates_a380.aspx

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5dvFJVO9c

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