Emirates is known for their huge A380 fleet, and how decked out their cabins are. Business and First Class passengers get access to the onboard bar, and First Class passengers have a shower spa. Emirates have mostly deployed the A380 routes on long-haul flights, but there are also some short flights, like Hong Kong to Bangkok, or Dubai to Jeddah.
about 2 years ago, Emirates announced the shortest route operated by the A380, Dubai (DXB) to Kuwait (KWI), at just 530 miles. They even made a video about how they tried to maximize the service on that route.
they announced that they will be flying the A380 on an even shorter route…Dubai (DXB) to Doha (DOH). At just 235 miles, this flight will be the new, world’s shortest route operated by the A380 when it begins on December 1, 2016. Emirates isn’t actually launching a whole new route or an additional service. Rather, they are upgrading one of nine daily flights to an A380. The outbound clocks in at just 1 hour and 20 minutes, while the inbound is blocked for 1 hours and 10 minutes.
Emirates does already serve a meal on this (really) short flight, and I don’t think the a change in equipment make a difference. First Class passengers get a hot breakfast on the outbound, while Business Class passengers will receive a continental cold plate breakfast. In their press release, they are still advertising the onboard bar for this short flight, so that will remain open for guests, which I am surprised by. However, they didn’t mention the shower spa, so I suspect that very understandably won’t be available (or really necessary) on the short flight.
Doha is the hub of Qatar Airways, one of the “big three” Middle East carrier. I am not sure if this move by Emirates is a gesture off some sort, trying to show off some dominance. They could also really just be increasing capacity, or trying to draw business from Doha-based customers connecting beyond Dubai, who can now fly the giant double-decker all the way.
news7 DUBAI AIRPORTS CEO SAYS HEATHROW’S RUNWAY ‘50 YEARS TOO LATE’
The U.K.’s government’s decision to expand London’s Heathrow airport is about “50 years too late,” according to the chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, which is building one of the world’s largest aviation hubs.
“Unfortunately the bureaucracy in the U.K. seems to be the world’s most refined and the world’s most comprehensive when it comes to strangling infrastructure projects,” Paul Griffiths told Bloomberg TV in an interview. “Whether they’ll ever build it or not we’ll just have to wait and see, but I don’t think it will be in the next 10 years.’’
Prime Minister Theresa May’s government gave the green light to the 16 billion-pound ($20 billion) construction of a third landing strip at Heathrow amid a crunch in U.K. flight capacity. The first full-length runway in southeast England since World War II will allow the 70-year-old airport to handle 135 million passengers a year. The government is leaving open questions about how the runway would be funded and how long it will take to get built.
While approving the runway was “absolutely the right decision,” the U.K.’s track record on delivering projects on time and within budget isn’t “great,” Griffiths said. However, the project is vital to London and Heathrow will be able to “use every ounce of capacity that the runway will create,’’ he said.
Griffiths is leading the expansion of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport, which is set to be the world’s largest, with an ultimate capacity target of 220 million passengers. The master plan for the airport’s second phase has been approved and the detailed-design work is under way, he said. Middle Eastern airports such as Dubai have been able to grow without being subject to similar opposition to capacity increases such as at Heathrow or limitations on night flights.
Al Maktoum, which currently handles 7 million passengers a year, will see its capacity jump to 26 million in 2017. Emirates airline is set to shift its operations to the new airport when expansion is completed, while budget carrier FlyDubai is expected to move to the new hub by 2017.
