Emirates To Launch Fourth New York Service

Emirates is introducing a fourth daily service – and its third A380 – to New York from March 8.

EK207 will depart Dubai at 1450 and arrive in JFK at 2035 and the return flight, EK208, will depart JFK at 1630 and arrive in Dubai at 1315 the following day.

Since the existing three services are all morning flights from Dubai (0225, 0830 and 0905), the new service provides more choice for passengers connecting later in Dubai, and flying onwards in America with codeshare and frequent flyer partner JetBlue Airways.

While favourable for passengers, the introduction of the fourth flight – which will be operated by an A380, adding another 489 seats into the market – will be a concern for US carriers which are already facing increasingly stiff competition from all three Gulf carriers, which all serve New York directly. Emirates also flies to Boston direct and has been serving Chicago since August.

Emirates’ fourth New York service is operated by a B777-300ER via Milan. The Lazio Regional Administration Court attempted to block the route in April, but the airline lodged an appeal, which has allowed the service to continue pending a final decision by the year end. Fellow UAE carrier Etihad is also keen to secure Italian and US traffic through its 49 per cent stake in Alitalia.

Securing a new direct service will help safeguard Emirates’ business on such a key route irrespective of the Milan outcome.