Emirates’ massive milestone in Sydney

Aussies may be surprised to learn how long Emirates has been operating Down Under as the carrier reveals why it was forced to spend a massive $8b.

Back in March 2000, a Middle Eastern carrier launched its first ever service to Sydney.

That carrier was Emirates and it has since established itself as one of the world’s best and most respected airlines.

It started with four weekly flights via Singapore to Sydney and has since connected over nine million passengers with Australia’s iconic harbour city, on more than 35,000 flights.

An exclusive event was held at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Circular Quay on Wednesday to celebrate the airline’s 25 years of flying to Sydney.

Pictured is the first type of Emirates aircraft to fly to Sydney in 2000.

Barry Brown, divisional vice president of Australasia at Emirates, said, today the airline operates three daily direct flights (in Sydney) linking Dubai to over 140 destinations around the world.

“Over the past quarter century we have carried over nine million passengers alone between Sydney and Dubai – and we now have the capacity to transport over one million passengers every year between Sydney and Dubai,” Mr Brown said.

Barry Brown, divisional vice president of Australasia Emirates, at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Circular Quay on Wednesday to celebrate the airline’s 25 years of flying to Sydney.

“I’d like to see [us] have four daily flights like we used to,” he said, joking if anyone has any contacts in the aircraft manufacturing business, to give them a nudge.

The first Emirates lounge in Sydney opened in 2006 and in 2022, after Covid, the city was one of the first to receive the refurbished A380, which includes the premium economy cabin. Its popularity paved the way for the introduction of an additional daily service from Sydney, two daily services from Melbourne, and a daily service from Brisbane.

Emirates is celebrating 25 years of flying to Sydney.

Admittedly, Mr Brown said there were fears business class passengers were going to trade down, but instead economy passengers traded up.

“We all thought that at the time, when we saw the renderings, we were going to have business class passengers trade down from business into the premium economy,” he said at the event.

“Fortunately, it went the way it was planned and economy passengers have found the niche of trading under premium economy.”

This is the A380 – its most popular aircraft that features premium economy.

Aircraft delays prompt $8 billion spend

Mr Brown addressed the airline’s aircraft delays explaining there would have been 100 of the A350s in the network today, but instead there are just three.

“Our new aircraft delays forced us to spend $US5 billion ($A8 billion) retrofitting all of our A380s and upgrading our 777 aircraft to try and compensate for these delays,” he said.

“We are 10 per cent of where we should be with new aircraft. So we’ve been forced into refurbishing the ones we have.”

The airline was forced to spend $8 billion retrofitting the A380 and 777s after significant delays for its new Airbus A350s.

The airline wanted more A380s but Airbus shut down its production due to a lack of future orders. Emirates had to rethink its fleet renewal strategy and decided on Airbus A350-900s. It was intended to get them in 2024 with the first flight between Dubai and Bahrain to launch on September 15. It’s not clear what is causing the delays.

The A350s will offer three cabin classes: 32 Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 259 Economy Class seats. These aircraft are earmarked to serve short – to medium-haul cities on the Emirates network.

Emirates currently operates 77 weekly return services to Australia. It also facilitates cargo to and from the country, serving as a critical airlink to help increase investment flows.