Emirates will run more services between Dubai and Australia with Brisbane and Perth receiving additional capacity.
The airline is upgrading its second Dubai-Brisbane flight to an Airbus A380 from October with a second daily Boeing 777 service between Dubai and Perth beginning in December.
Divisional Vice President Australasia at Emirates, Barry Brown, said the airline is pleased to offer more choice and opportunities for Australians travelling from Brisbane and Perth.
“It’s a demonstration of the importance of both gateways for tourism and trade, and Emirates’ commitment to ensure convenient schedules and comfortable connections to and through Dubai,” he said.
“Whether it’s the advantage of seamless afternoon connections from Dubai to a wealth of destinations across Europe on the second Perth flight, or a full A380 experience to and from Brisbane to close to 50 cities served by our flagship, we’re creating access to diverse opportunities for business, leisure, culture, and more.”
Brisbane Airport CEO, Gert-Jan de Graaff, said Emirates is the city’s number one people mover to and from Europe.
“The A380 will allow up to 100,000 extra passengers per year to travel between Queensland and Europe, which is Brisbane’s second busiest international destination,” he said.
“Importantly, Emirates stands out from the pack as the leading airline in over the bay operations, reducing noise impacts on the local community.
The additional Perth daily service will deliver an extra 250,000 seats per year on the route.
Western Australia’s Acting Tourism Minister, John Carey, said the announcement represents another important step forward in rebuilding WA’s aviation capacity.
“Securing additional direct aviation services is absolutely vital to driving more travellers to our state, injecting visitor spend into our economy, and creating jobs in the tourism and hospitality industries,” he said.
“We’re really proud to have brought back or secured new non-stop flights to 19 global cities since borders reopened, and this is just another vote of confidence in Western Australia as a tourism destination.”
