United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline is to further boost its activities in South East Asia, a key market for its flights from Dubai and among transfer passengers connecting from other parts of its expanding global network. The growing company is to introduce a second daily Airbus A380 operation on its five times daily link to Bangkok, while a fourth daily service (a third non-stop rotation) will be offered to Hong Kong. Both schedule changes will be introduced from the start of the Northern Hemisphere winter timetable on October 27, 2013.
The Thai capital, Bangkok, was one of the earliest destinations in the Far East to join the Emirates network with flights commencing in 1990. The carrier’s five flights a day are currently operated four times daily with Boeing 777-300ERs and once daily with an A380. The second A380 rotation will initially boost weekly capacity by 4.5 per cent as between October 27, 2013 and December 30, 2013 it will be flown with a 489-seat version, but will ultimately result in a 5.9 per cent seat increase as the larger 517-seat A380 variant is introduced from December 31, 2013.
Alongside its terminating services in Bangkok, Emirates’ flights to the Thai capital facilitate its wider network requirements across Asia and Australasia with flights continuing on to Hong Kong, Sydney and Christchurch. In 2012 an estimated 1.19 million passengers flew on Emirates’ services from/to Bangkok, with just 19.1 per cent of the total beginning or ending their journeys in Dubai. The largest bi-directional O&D passenger flows were on the UAE carrier’s flights from Bangkok last year are on its continuing services to Hong Kong (21.5 per cent) and Sydney (7.2 per cent) but it also reported strong traffic via Dubai to Paris, Manchester, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, London, Frankfurt and Nice.
In 2012, an estimated 385,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew between Dubai and Hong Kong, roughly similar numbers to the previous year. Emirates’ own share of this market, however, has declined three percentage points in this period from 62 per cent in 2011 to 59 per cent in 2012 and the introduction of a fifth daily flight earlier this year and now the A380 upguage will likely reverse this result in 2013.
“The addition of a second daily A380 flight to Bangkok and a fourth daily service to Hong Kong demonstrates Emirates’ commitment to both Thailand and Hong Kong. Earlier this year we launched our fifth daily flight to Bangkok and the passenger demand has led to the decision to operate the second A380 on the route. Thailand has been part of the Emirates network for over 20 years and in December we added Phuket as our second Thai destination,” said Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Far East & Australasia, Emirates Airline.
Emirates will also be strengthening is commitment to Hong Kong with the launch of a fourth daily service from Dubai on October 27, 2013. This late evening rotation will complement its existing early and mid morning flights as well as its one-stop flight via Bangkok. The new service will initially be operated by an Airbus A330-200 in a three class configuration before being upgraded to a Boeing 777-300ER later in the year.
The UAE carrier currently competes with Cathay Pacific Airways and Kenya Airways between Dubai and Hong Kong, while Cathay Pacific and Air Seychelles offer flights between Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, the latter in partnership with Etihad Airways. This month there are 36 flights per week between the UAE and Hong Kong with Emirates holding a 38.9 per cent share of departures and 47.5 per cent share of capacity. In 2012, an estimated 157,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew between Dubai and Hong Kong, up 17.4 per cent on the previous year. Emirates’ own share of this market has grown four percentage points in this period from 56 per cent in 2011 to 60 per cent in 2012.
“We have been steadily increasing the number of services to Hong Kong and this fourth flight gives our customers the flexibility to choose a departure time that fits with their schedule and connect through Dubai to destinations on our ever expanding global network,” added Mr Obaidalla.
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