Emirates ramping up services to Sydney and Melbourne

Emirates has taken yet another significant step in the resumption of its Australia capacity by increasing its service to two major cities – Sydney and Melbourne.

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

From March 26, Melbourne will increase from two to three daily services between Emirates’ Dubai hub via Singapore, with a third direct service to also begin to Sydney from May 1. The service increase follows the airline’s recent announcement around double daily flights to Brisbane, starting from June 1.

The huge boost comes amidst another busy period for air travel and as the airline continues to reaffirm its ongoing commitment to growing its services to and from Australia. The two services will operate on a three-class Boeing-777 300ER offering passengers Economy, Business and First Class seats.

As a result, by mid-year, Emirates will be operating 63 weekly services to Australia with the capacity to transport more than 55,000 passengers per week to and from its major cities.

Melbourne Airport CEO, Lorie Argus, said: “We’re thrilled that Emirates is enhancing its commitment to Melbourne. The resumption of the Melbourne to Singapore route means Emirates will operate three daily flights from Melbourne, returning to pre-Covid levels of capacity.

“It’s great news for customers as it provides extra capacity for the strong demand we’re seeing for travel from Melbourne to Europe and Asia. It’s also great news for Victorian exporters, with the Boeing 777-300 aircraft providing additional freight opportunities into Asia and the Middle East.”

© Kurt Ams

While Sydney Airport CEO, Geoff Culbert, noted: “We welcome this additional capacity on the Sydney to Dubai route, which will also give passengers access to Emirates’ extensive global network.

“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. It is great to see that both visitors and Australians will have more choice available in time for the start of the European summer and the NSW winter school holidays.

“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.”