Dubai’s Emirates ramps up operations to South Africa

Dubai carrier Emirates will be expanding its operations in and out of South Africa, boosting its schedule to 28 weekly flights by October, it announced on September 8.

The ramp up of operations will see double daily flights to Johannesburg, including the introduction of Emirates’ A380 on one of the daily flights, in addition to daily services to both Cape Town and Durban. The new frequencies and capacity increases across all of the airline’s gateways in South Africa are effective from October 31, 2021.

Emirates strengthens its commitment to South Africa with further expansion of operations up to 28 weekly flights, reintroducing the @Airbus A380 to Johannesburg, and reviving its partnership with @flysaa. https://t.co/050cOERABS #FlyEmiratesFlyBetter @DXB pic.twitter.com/EIbvMW6yLj

— Emirates Airline (@emirates) September 8, 2021

From January 1, 2022, Emirates will serve Johannesburg with double daily A380 services, offering South African passengers features like first class private suites, shower spa, the onboard lounge, and economy and premium economy class cabins. However, the A380 fitted with premium economy is flying to limited destinations only.

Emirates’ flight schedule expansion comes in response to increased customer demand to Dubai as tourist visas have opened up for all nationalities, a statement said.

South African travellers visiting Dubai must present a negative Covid‑19 PCR test certificate with a QR code issued within 48 hours of the time the sample was collected at an approved local health facility. Travellers to Dubai must also present a rapid PCR test report with a QR code for a test conducted at the departure airport within six hours of departure.

Passengers arriving in Dubai will be required to take another PCR test on arrival at the airport. All passengers transiting in Dubai must complete all the requirements of their final destination.

With South African Airways (SAA) resuming operations on September 23, Emirates is set to revive its strategic partnership and cooperation with the carrier. Prior to the pandemic, the partnership developed to include a complementary joint network of 110 destinations, optimised schedules offering greater connectivity for customers, as well as baggage transfers and enhanced reciprocal frequent flyer benefits.

Since the start of their strategic cooperation, close to 370,000 passengers have benefitted from the Emirates and SAA partnership. With customer convenience top of mind, plans are underway to expand the ability to book connecting flights on both carriers within one itinerary once again.