Dubai’s Emirates to reduce Edinburgh flights weeks after launch

Dubai airline Emirates will be reducing its daily Edinburgh service to five-times weekly soon after the route is launched.

The airline will be launching its new daily service to the Scottish capital on October 1.

From October 28, the frequency will be reduced to five-times weekly “due to seasonal adjustments”, an Emirates spokesperson said.

“After the planned Dubai Airports runway closure for upgrade works between April 16 and May 30, 2019, we’ll resume with a daily service to Edinburgh from June 1, 2019,” the spokesperson added.

Also read: Dubai International Airport traffic expected to reduce 43% during runway closure

At launch, the route will be operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER with eight first class seats, 42 business class seats and 304 economy class seats.

Emirates flight EK023 will depart Dubai daily at 9.55am and arrive in Edinburgh at 2.50pm. Return flight EK024 will depart Edinburgh at 8.15pm and arrive in Dubai at 6.40am the next morning.

The Dubai carrier already flies twice a day to Scotland’s second city Glasgow.

“Edinburgh is a very popular leisure and business destination, and the new service will offer our customers from across our global network, particularly from key inbound markets such as Asia and Australia, a direct option to the city via our Dubai hub,” Emirates divisional senior vice president of commercial operations Hubert Frach said when announcing the route in May.

The announcement of the new route came even as rival carrier Etihad Airways revealed that it would cancel the Edinburgh route.

The Abu Dhabi airline said it was suspending flights to the Scottish city as part of a wider review designed to improve profitability.

Read more: Dubai’s Emirates launches Edinburgh service following Etihad suspension