Emirates to increase flights to Sydney, Melbourne; resume service to Christchurch

Dubai-based carrier Emirates has said that it will increase its service to two major Australian cities – Sydney and Melbourne.

With the add-on of a daily service, the carrier will return to operating at pre-pandemic levels to both cities.

We’re boosting our Australian operations with the addition of a third daily service to Sydney and Melbourne. We’ll also be restarting flights to Christchurch via Sydney on 26 March. https://t.co/qgKCilJQDE pic.twitter.com/rEu7lYT229

— Emirates (@emirates) January 23, 2023

The airline will also restart services to Christchurch, New Zealand via Sydney, offering a new path for Australians across the trans-Tasman route.

From March 26, flights to Melbourne will increase from two to three daily services from Dubai via Singapore. The additional flight will operate as EK404, using a Boeing 777-300ER, and will depart Dubai at 9.15pm, arriving in Singapore at 8.50am. The flight will then continue on to Melbourne taking off at 10.25am from Singapore, arriving at 8.35pm local time.

The return EK405 service to Dubai will take off from Melbourne at 3.25am, and will arrive in Singapore at 8.15am. The flight will proceed onwards for Dubai at 9.40am and arrive at 1pm local time.

“The resumption of the Melbourne to Singapore route means Emirates will operate three daily flights from Melbourne, returning to pre-Covid levels of capacity,” said Lorie Argus, Melbourne Airport CEO.

Additionally, from May 1, Emirates will add a third daily flight between Dubai and Sydney, served by a Boeing 777-300ER.

Flight EK416 will depart Dubai at 9.30pm and touch down at Sydney at 5.20pm the next day. The return flight EK417, will depart Sydney at 8.10pm and land at Dubai at 4.30am. The airline currently serves Sydney with double daily A380 flights.

“These extra flights are another important step towards Australia’s international aviation recovery, providing much needed additional capacity to meet the high demand for travel,” added Sydney Airport CEO, Geoff Culbert.

“We are also pleased to see the A380 return on the trans-Tasman after a three-year hiatus, adding extra seats to meet the strong appetite for travel between Sydney and New Zealand.”

The carrier will also resume its operations to Christchurch via Sydney from March 26, with the A380 flight operating as EK412 an EK413.

Emirates flight EK412 will take off from Dubai at 10.15am, and arrive in Sydney at 7am. The flight will then continue, taking off from Sydney at 8.45am and arriving in Christchurch at 1.50pm. Flight EK413 will then depart Christchurch at 6.20pm, arriving in Sydney at 7.40pm. The final leg of EK413 will depart to Dubai at 9.45pm, arriving at 5.15am local time.

The increase in flight frequencies follows the airline’s recent announcement around double daily flights to Brisbane, starting June 1.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates doubles services to Brisbane

Emirates said that by mid-year, the carrier will be operating 63 weekly services to Australia with the capacity to transport more than 55,000 passengers per week between major cities.

“Adding a third daily service to Sydney and Melbourne will offer over 500,000 additional seats to and from Australia in a year. To have the two cities operating back at pre-pandemic frequencies is a phenomenal milestone in our restoration of Australia capacity and testament to our longstanding commitment to flying down under,” noted Adnan Kazim, chief commercial officer Emirates Airline.

“For over 25 years we have provided services for Australia since our first flight to Melbourne in 1996. During this time, we have proudly transported over 40 million passengers and continued flying to Australia during the pandemic.”

Emirates has been serving Australia for more than 25 years, growing its services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and other destinations via its Dubai.  The airline also operates a daily A380 service to Perth.

Read: Emirates to restart A380 daily service to Perth from December 1