Double-daily double-deckers for AKL

Posted by travel memo on 6 January 2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: Emirates, New Zealand, Airbus A380, B777-300ER

New Zealand, which already gets four Emirates flights per day, one of which is a giant Airbus A380 via Sydney, is to get a second daily
super-jumbo. From October, Emirates is up-gauging its Auckland-Melbourne-Dubai service from the existing B777-300ER service to a doubledecker A380.

“This is a great Christmas present for us and New Zealand. Having a second daily A380 service in and out of New Zealand reinforces our commitment to the country,” said Emirates’ regional manager NZ Chris Lethbridge. “The A380 has been an extremely popular aircraft, offering new comfort levels across the Tasman and beyond, and we are delighted to be able to offer even more seats on a daily basis on this type during 2012. Importantly, this adds to the capacity available for inbound tourism and with such a wide network to draw upon – 116 destinations in 68 countries, and Dublin being added from January 9 – we are confident we can help grow the numbers.” With the second A380 service in place, Emirates will offer a total of 1,686 seats a day in each direction, up from 1,234 just 2½ years ago.

“One of the great pluses we have here is that Emirates operates the only A380 service all the way from Auckland to London, Manchester,
Paris, Munich and Rome. “The A380 has been very popular for people flying just to Sydney. I think we will see the same success with the type for those people going to Melbourne and beyond.” Mr Lethbridge said that Melbourne was an attractive destination for many New Zealanders
and he believed the expansion in capacity and new aircraft would be a popular move.