Emirates is about to change its Perth schedule and will also suspend flights EK 418/419 between Bangkok and Sydney from 1 June 2019 “with a view to providing more efficient and direct connection options for customers travelling to and from Australia”.
The changes have been confirmed by a bulletin announcing adjustments to Emirates’ operational schedules in 2019, aimed “to minimise the impact of the closure of Dubai International Airport’s Southern Runway in April and May 2019, and to respond to global travel demand trends”.
The airline also outlined its fleet plans for the year.
From 1 June 2019, Emirates will continue to serve Sydney with three flights a day non-stop to Dubai, and Emirates’ customers wishing to travel between Bangkok and Sydney will have flight choices provided by Emirates’ partner Qantas.
From 31 March 2019, Emirates will suspend EK 424/425 and serve Perth with a once-daily Airbus A380 service non-stop from Dubai. The airline says that its customers travelling from Perth will continue to enjoy rapid two-way connections through Dubai to over 38 destinations in Europe, and a further 16 cities in Europe via Emirates’ codeshare partner flydubai.
“Customers will also be able to enjoy a seamless Emirates A380 experience between Perth and close to 20 destinations in Europe.”
Emirates’ new B777 first class. Photo: Emirates
Emirates Airline president Tim Clark said the airline prided itself on being “a customer-focused airline with a commercially-driven business model”.
“We invest in a modern and efficient aircraft fleet so we can offer industry-leading comforts to our customers, and we are agile in deploying our aircraft to destinations where it best serves customer demand.
“The changes we are implementing to our network schedules in 2019 are in line with this approach, taking into consideration global market dynamics and operational limitations including the maintenance work on Dubai Airport’s Southern Runway. Through the year, we will continue to keep a close watch on global markets and will maintain our flexibility to optimise the usage of our aircraft assets.”
“A significant number” of scheduled Emirates flights will be impacted by the closure of Dubai International Airport’s Southern Runway for maintenance work between 16 April and 30 May 2019.
An airline statement said: “Given the limitations around operating flights using a single runway at its hub, many Emirates flights will be cancelled, re-timed or have the operating aircraft changed in order to reduce impact on customers. This will result in up to 48 Emirates aircraft not being utilised, with a 25% reduction in the overall number of flights operated by the airline during the 45-day period.”
Edited by Peter Needham
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