Following the announcement of the UAE easing entry requirements for 12 countries (United Kingdom, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nigeria and Afghanistan) and the UK adding the UAE on its ‘amber list’, Emirates is responding to the pent-up travel demand across its network.
In line with the easing of restrictions, the airline will be restoring capacity across 29 cities on its network on over 270 flights. Additionally, the Middle Eastern giant will boost frequencies and capacity ‘as demand proliferates for international leisure and business travel’.
73-weekly flights to/from the United Kingdom
By October 2021, Emirates will increase its services to 73 weekly flights to the UK, including a 6-times-a-day London Heathrow operation; double daily Airbus A380 flights to Manchester, 10-weekly services to Birmingham and daily flights to Glasgow.
From today (11th August 2021), the Dubai-based airline is serving London Heathrow with 3-daily flights, all operated by its flagship A380. Throughout August and September, Emirates will gradually increase its operations to London Heathrow, and by the middle of October, the airline will have restored its operations to six daily flights, of which four will be served by the A380. The airline says that the multiple daily flights served by the airline’s flagship A380 ‘will provide significant connection opportunities to one of the highest demand leisure and business markets in the world’.
It adds that it has optimised its schedules to create easy connections from its network, particularly across major cities in Africa like Johannesburg, Cape Town and Lusaka, and in West Asia including Karachi, Islamabad, among other cities.
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Boosting operations in the United States and Africa
Emirates presently flies to 12 cities in the United States on over 70 weekly flights, and will be adding additional frequencies to Houston, Boston and San Francisco over the course of August to accommodate for the seasonal influx of travellers. In comparison, Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways is operating over 100 weekly flights to the United States.
As earlier reported by IH Aviation and Travel, the carrier will be boosting capacity on its four weekly services to New York JFK to its flagship A380 from 13 August. This will be in addition to the already operating daily A380 flight to the Big Apple. The airline adds that it will continue to make schedule and capacity adjustments to match its services with customer travel trends.
Emirates has increased flights to Johannesburg from daily to 11-weekly flights, with the addition of four linked flights with Durban. The carrier also operates 3-weekly services to Cape Town. It notes that passengers travelling from these three South African cities can connect to an array of onwards connections to Europe, Middle East, West Asia and the United States.
Furthermore, it adds that flights to and from South Africa have also been scheduled to allow for easy connections and additional access to Emirates’ four gateways in the UK, as well as 12 destinations in the US.
The airline has also reinstated capacity on its flights to and from Lusaka (linked with Harare) and Entebbe with five weekly flights each.
The carrier states that as international borders reopen and travel restrictions ease, it continues to expand its network, matching capacity with demand in line with market dynamics and operating conditions. The airline has resumed passenger services to over 120 destinations, recovering close to 90% of its pre-pandemic network.
Meanwhile, Emirates recently launched a new account-based payment system called ‘Emirates Pay’. The airline has also reopened on its dedicated First Class lounge at Dubai International Airport and has launched an all-new airport service at Dubai International Airport to assist passengers more better. The carrier has launched flights to Miami, Florida making it the airline’s 12th destination in the United States. Emirates, just a few days ago, announced a interline partnership with Mexico’s Aeromar.
Featured image by Emirates
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