Emirates upgrades Dubai-Christchurch route to A380s
The superjumbo will operate the South Island service from October 30. With special feature audio.
Emirates will soon be flying five daily Airbus A380s to New Zealand, as the Christchurch service and the non-stop Auckland-Dubai route are upgraded.
The A380 super-jumbo will fly to the South Island from Sydney for the first time on October 30, the same day as the non-stop Auckland-Dubai service will also convert to the larger aircraft.
Christchurch International Airport says the upgrade will add further to its record traffic growth.
Chief aeronautical and commercial officer Justin Watson says long-haul international visitors last financial year (to June 30) increased 15% year-on-year, with strong arrivals growth from the UK and Europe.
“In addition, holiday arrivals from Australia are now also growing strongly, with an 18% increase in July being the highest of any New Zealand airport,” he says.
In recent developments, South Korea’s Asiana Airlines is introducing a new weekly summer service, expected to bring another 2500 visitors into Christchurch; Singapore Airlines will add five extra flights over summer, bringing its total number of flights for the year to 401; and Qantas will introduce a new daily Christchurch-Melbourne service from December as well as increasing its services between Brisbane and Christchurch from three times a week to daily from late October.
Emirates says the upgrade from Boeing 777-300ERs, along with the removal of the en-route stop in Bangkok, will turn the Christchurch-Dubai route into a one-stop flight (via Sydney). This will cut the total journey time by two hours.
However, a Bangkok stopover will be added to the daily A380 service from Auckland via Sydney. Emirates also operates two other daily A380 services between Auckland and Dubai via Melbourne and Brisbane).
All flights leave New Zealand in the early evening and touch down in Dubai around dawn the next day. Return flights leave Dubai mid-morning and will arrive about midday or early afternoon the next day.
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Nevil Gibson
Tue, 06 Sep 2016
Tue, 06 Sep 2016
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Emirates upgrades Dubai-Christchurch route to A380s
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