Emirates will ramp up its Airbus A380 roster from October with Sydney and Christchurch coming under the wing of a new superjumbo flight.
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Under the new timetable, flight EK412 will depart Dubai every day at 1015 and arrive in Christchurch at 1350 the next day, following a stop in Sydney.
Effective 30 October 2016, the Dubai-based carrier will upgrade its daily service to the New Zealand city from a Boeing 777 to the three-class A380. Emirates now operates three A380 flights to Auckland from Dubai via Australia (Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney).
“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. Return flights leave Dubai mid-morning and will arrive about midday or early afternoon the next day.
Emirates flight EK418, the airline’s nonstop Dubai to Auckland flight will depart Dubai at 8:55am and arrive into Auckland at 3:55pm the next day.
The plane will land just before 2pm daily and depart at 6.45pm. The banks of the river feature cycle paths, the green expanse of Hagley Park and the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Emirates is the only airline offering year-round scheduled A380 services to and from New Zealand.
From February Emirates will face competition to the Middle East from Qatar Airways.
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“The A380 is a double deck, wide body, four engine jet airliner with the renowned luxurious Emirates experience”, he says. New Zealanders are big people (just ask the Wallabies) and the local carrier, in its wisdom, thinks they can all happily fly in 787s and 777s with some of the tiniest economy class seats ever seen in the jet age, when majority need two, one for each ****cheek. First Class and Business Class passengers can socialise and sample canapes and cocktails at the popular Onboard Lounge and passengers in all classes can enjoy the gourmet cuisine, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment, ice, with more than 2,500 channels and free wi-fi, which is available on all of Emirates’ A380s.
