Emirates is to upgrade the aircraft serving Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt in a continued push into Europe at a time when European airlines appear to be stifled by a lack of investment.
The Airbus 340-300 currently deployed on one of Munich’s two daily flights, EK 051, will be replaced with a larger Boeing 777-300 from 25th March, giving a 36% boost to seat capacity.
Similarly, the A340-300 supporting one of the twice daily flights to Dusseldorf, EK 057, will be switched to a 777-300ER as of 1st June, giving a 36% increase in the number of seats available.
Additionally, the A330-200 serving one of Frankfurt’s three daily flights, EK 043, will be upgraded to a 777-300ER from 1st October, giving a 49% boost in seat capacity.
The 777 aircraft will be arranged, as before, in a three class configuration; First Class, Business Class and Economy Class.
The airline currently offers 63 flights a week to four gateways in Germany; Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich.
“Germany is one of our most important markets so we are constantly seeking ways to enhance our services, while responding to solid demand. These aircraft upgrades will open up more seats to our customers travelling to and from Germany and further raise Emirates’ contribution to Germany’s tourism revenue,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ senior vice president, commercial operations, for Europe & the Russian Federation.
Industry analyst Saj Ahmad said: “Emirates has thrown down the competitive gauntlet to Lufthansa and Air Berlin with the announcement of new, bigger airplanes on key routes throughout Germany.
“With a minimum 30% increase in capacity to Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, Emirates is showing to good effect just how efficient their operations are and in contrast to the slow pace of reform in the EU, its little surprise that they can pull of a feat of upgauging three destinations in one country in one fell swoop.
“While European carriers continuously complain about the likes of Emirates, they fail to acknowledge that Arab airlines have made good use of their state-backed Governments - the problem is that two decades ago, Europe had the same sort of backing yet their airlines failed to capitalise on that investment. Emirates has shown that its policy of expansion, coupled with arguably the best long haul twin jet in the 777 that it can make markets work harder and generate more traffic and revenue.
“It's a great move on their part and one that will no doubt reverberate across the entire EU as a statement of intent, despite the growth being penalised by the controversial ETS scheme - it hasn't stifled Emirates desire to make Europe a key battleground for its growth ambitions,” he said.
In September last year, Emirates’ flights to Hamburg went double daily and in December the Frankfurt service became triple daily. In November, Emirates became the first foreign carrier to offer a scheduled A380 service to Germany, deploying its flagship double-decker to Munich.
A replica A380 Onboard Shower Spa and Onboard Lounge were shown to thousands who visited the Emirates Globe stand at ITB Berlin, which took place 7th – 11th March. The travel trade show also provided another opportunity to recruit German speakers to join the airline’s 13,000 cabin crew.
Emirates is in the midst of a raft of destination launches, aircraft upgrades and frequency increases across its six-continent network as it strives to connect travellers, families and businesses across the globe.
So far this year, the airline has started services to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Lusaka, Harare, Dallas and Seattle. Flights to Ho Chi Minh City start on 4th June, Barcelona is next from 3rd July and Lisbon joins the route network as of 9th July.
No comments:
Post a Comment