Emirates Adds 270 Flights to Their Network After Easing of Entry Rules

With the recent announcements of the UAE easing entry protocols for 12 countries, and the UK adding the UAE to its amber list, Emirates is scaling up their operations.

In line with the easing of restrictions, the airline will be restoring capacity across 29 cities on their network with over 270 flights; as well as fine-tuning their schedules to boost frequencies and capacity as demand proliferates for international leisure and business travel.

Expansion of services to/from the UK

By October, the airline will increase their services to 73 weekly flights to the UK; including a six times a day London Heathrow operation, double daily A380 flights to Manchester, ten weekly services to Birmingham and daily services to Glasgow.

From today Emirates will begin serving London Heathrow with three daily flights, all operated by their flagship A380.

Throughout August and September, Emirates will gradually increase their operations to London Heathrow; by the middle of October the airline intends to have restored operations to six daily flights, of which four will be served by the A380.

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Boosting US operations and restoration of services across Africa

Emirates currently flies to 12 cities in the United States, with over 70 weekly flights, and will be adding additional frequencies to Houston, Boston and San Francisco over the course of August to accommodate for the seasonal influx of travellers.

The airline will also be boosting capacity on four weekly services to New York JFK with their flagship A380 from 13th August.

For the South Africa market, Emirates has increased flights to Johannesburg from once daily to 11 weekly flights; with the addition of four linked flights with Durban. The airline also flies to and from Cape Town, this route is provided with three weekly services.

Flights to/ from South Africa have also been scheduled to allow for convenient connections, and additional access, to Emirates’ four gateways in the UK, as well as Emirates’ extensive US network.

The airline has also reinstated capacity on their flights to and from Lusaka (linked with Harare) and Entebbe with five weekly flights each.

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My Views

The easing of entry restrictions for key markets that Emirates serve, such as the UK, South Africa, India, Pakistan etc, has provided a sharp increase in demand; as many travellers who have been stuck for some months and unable to travel are now able to mobilise..

In the last few days I have observed that all Emirates flights from India and Pakistan have been full, due to the easing of entry restrictions. Emirates has resumed passenger services to over 120 destinations, recovering close to 90% of their pre-pandemic network. We hope more demand can fill up all those A380s.