Emirates To Drop Clark International In The Philippines

It’s unusual for Emirates to drop a route, particularly one it only launched a little over seven months ago.

But it is has been confirmed today that its daily flights to Clark International Airport in the Philippines will stop on May 1.

It is a curious move, especially as much of the tone around the destination has been bullish, and reports of increased frequencies were on the cards.

So something has clearly changed.

In a statement, the airline said the decision came “after a review of the airline’s operations to ensure the best utilisation of its aircraft fleet for its overall business objectives.”

So that means its loads to Clark weren’t as high as originally anticipated, Clark’s potential as a ‘new hub’ has been overstated, or simply there’s too much capacity between the UAE and the Philippines – or perhaps a combination of all three.

Emirates’ schedule to Manila, where it continues to fly triple daily, remains unaffected.