Emirates prepares for a major summer ramp-up

It seems that capacity is the name of the game for Summer 2023 for Emirates as they prepare to ramp up available capacity on its network

Emirates Airbus A380 taking off from London Heathrow Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond

In the past months, the airline has continued the growth of its network operations – reintroducing services to 5 cities, launching flights to 1 new destination (Tel Aviv) and adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes.

Let us dive into the ramp-up details – there’s a lot to dig into.

Airbus A380 Deploymnets for the Summer 2023 season

Upcoming A380 deployments in the Northern Summer 2023 season:

Emirates continues to scale up its A380 operations with the reintroduction of the double-decker aircraft across its network. Destinations include:

Glasgow from 26 March
Casablanca from 15 April
Beijing from 01 May
Shanghai from 04 June
Nice from 1 June
Birmingham from 1 July
Kuala Lumpur from 01 August
Taipei from 01 August

Network Capacity increases

With the big plane out of the way, we’ll head into the regional upgrades, with a mixture of seasonal and long-term frequency upgrades.

Africa

Cairo: from 25 to 28 weekly flights by 29 October.
Dar es Salaam: from 5 flights a week to daily flights starting 01 May.
Entebbe: from 6 flights a week to daily flights starting 01 July.

Australia and New Zealand

The airline’s non-stop Australia flights will return to pre-pandemic levels to Sydney from 01 May, Melbourne from 26 March, and Brisbane on 01 June.

Brisbane: An additional daily service starting 01 June will take Emirates to 14 flights per week to Brisbane.
Christchurch: restart of daily service from Dubai via Sydney from 26 March.
Melbourne: addition of 3rd daily service to Melbourne from 26 March via Singapore. This adds capacity to Melbourne and re-establishes connectivity between Singapore and Melbourne. The other 2 daily flights from Melbourne fly non-stop to Dubai.
Sydney: addition of 3rd daily non-stop service from 01 May.

East Asia

Bangkok: Addition of 5th daily service from 01 August.
Beijing: To commence daily non-stop Boeing 777-300ER service from 15 March, upgrading to an A380 effective 01 May. A second daily service will commence effective 01 September with an A380.
Hong Kong: Addition of a daily non-stop flight from 29 March. This increases Emirates’ operations to 14 weekly flights including its existing daily Dubai-Bangkok-Hong Kong service.
Kuala Lumpur: Addition of a third daily service from 01 June.
Tokyo: Resumption of services to Tokyo Haneda with daily flights on 02 April. This takes Emirates’ Japan operations to 21 weekly flights including a daily A380 service to Tokyo-Narita and a daily Boeing 777 service to Osaka.

Europe

Amsterdam: from 14 to 19 weekly flights starting 02 April.
Athens: Addition of a daily seasonal service to serve summer demand between 01 June to 30 September.
Bologna: from 5 flights a week to a daily service starting 01 May.
Budapest: from 5 flights a week to a daily service by 01 June.
London: start of 2nd daily service to London Stansted on 01 May. This will take Emirates London operations to 11 daily flights – including 6 times daily to London Heathrow and 3 times daily to Gatwick.
Venice: from 5 to 6 flights a week from 26 March, increasing to a daily service from 01 June.

In Quotes

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, 4 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.”

More to come

With the Emirates network strengthened for the year ahead, it’s time to build on that network and increase frequencies – the hard part of network building, as they balance out the demand requirements, as well as connecting traffic through its hub of Dubai International.

Capacity increases can come in two forms – either equipment upscaling or adding additional flights. Emirates has chosen both in some cases, expecting a busy summer.

Sustaining the growth will continue to be the challenge after an odd few years.

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