US expansion for Emirates

Emirates plans to add three new US city destinations in the next 12 months, Thierry Antinori, Chief Commercial Officer, has explained in an interview with Reuters news agency.  The airline expects to more than double its network of US destinations in the next three to five years to a total of 15 cities, up from seven currently.

As already announced (See BTN 15 April) Emirates is set to add a new service between New York's John F. Kennedy airport and Milan in October.  This is a unique fifth-freedom route between two third party countries.  It is not a sign that Emirates' Dubai-centric single-hub strategy is to change Antinori pointed out.

The Dubai-based carrier has been aggressive in increasing its US destinations "over-proportionally" in the last 18 months, adding three routes to four existing ones.  It now flies non-stop from Dubai to Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.

On 2 December, Emirates will add capacity on its Los Angeles – Dubai route by changing to an Airbus A380, replacing the Boeing 777 it currently uses.  The airline's two daily flights from New York already use the 525-seat A380 superjumbo. www.emirates.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum