Emirates boosts its Australia & New Zealand flights

By Andrew Curran.

Emirates has made several changes to its Australian and New Zealand operations in June as it continues to manage the impact of the Iran war. The changes were first reported by AeroRoutes.

On June 1, Emirates increased its A350-900 Dubai (DXB) - Adelaide (ADL) roundtrips from three to five per week. The frequency will increase to daily flights from June 19.

Emirates is now operating double-daily Airbus A380-800 services into Melbourne (MEL), with the type replacing the B777-300ER on one of the daily roundtrips from June 1. However, Emirates’ frequencies and capacity into Melbourne remain below levels seen before the start of the Iran war.

The airline had planned to replace the A350-900 operating its daily Dubai - Perth (PER) service with an A380-800 from June 1. Instead, it has swapped the A350 for a B777-300ER.

Sydney (SYD) is returning to three daily roundtrips when EK416/417 resumes on June 19. That service will be operated by a B777-300ER rather than the usual A380-800. However, the other two daily Dubai–Sydney roundtrips continue to be operated by A380s.

Emirates’ daily A380-800 Dubai - Brisbane (BNE) services remain unchanged.

Auckland (AKL) will see its current four-times-weekly A380 flights from Dubai increase to daily services from June 19.

Emirates has now restored most of its network after briefly suspending all flights when the Iran war began, albeit with reduced frequencies in some markets. Frequencies and capacity on high-demand routes, such as those between the UAE and Australia, have recovered more quickly than on thinner routes, although network-wide services remain below pre-war levels.

Many governments continue to maintain “do not travel” advisories for the UAE and other Gulf nations, which nullifies travel insurance policies. Various campaigns are underway to have those advisories scaled back.

Photo: Emirates.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com