Emirates offers new daily flights, 1000 extra seats from Melbourne to Dubai from December 2
Emirates will be offering daily flights with more than 1000 seats a week extra as international travel restrictions continue to ease across Australia.
Emirates will be offering daily flights from Melbourne to Dubai with more than 1000 seats a week extra as international travel restrictions continue to ease across Australia.
The daily flights, which begin on December 2, will be serviced by B777-300ER aircraft that were originally scheduled to run four flights a week.
Emirates Divisional Vice President Australasia Barry Brown said the increase in flights comes after the airline has been inundated with demand from travellers all over the globe.
A third of all inbound bookings to the country have come from the UK, Dubai and across Europe.
Bookings to Victoria contribute one third of the total seats booked and the majority still come from Sydney.
“Australians are ready to travel again after more than 18 months of pent-up demand which is why we’re increasing our Melbourne services to a daily operation,” he said.
“Melbourne was the first Australian destination Emirates started flying to 25 years ago and our commitment to this country has remained as strong as it was in 1996.
“It’s exciting to see the strong demand for our Australian services return so quickly, adding a further 1000 seats a week to Melbourne from next month.”
The UK is the most popular destination for Australians booking outbound travel ahead of Dubai, Pakistan, and other European cities.
Emirates’ new route to Tel Aviv, which begins on December 6, has also seen a growing number of bookings from Australian travellers.
Mr Brown said they needed more seats and frequency to cope with the demand they are seeing for travel from December.
Flights to and from Melbourne will operate daily on a Boeing 777 aircraft in a three-class configuration, offering 354 seats in First Class, Business Class and Economy Class.
On December 1, Emirates flight EK408 will depart Dubai for Melbourne.
The new move to offer more flights to Melbourne comes as Emirates’ daily A380 service from Sydney also starts on December 2.
When Sydney and Melbourne A380 flights resume, a “Cabin Service Assistant” will be on-board each flight, cleaning aircraft toilets every 45 minutes.
Mr Brown said passengers will be able to line up as normal to use the facilities, but will be required to wear a face mask unless they are drinking and eating.
Children under the age of 12 are exempt from this rule.
Each seat will also have new waste bags so passengers can dispose of used masks.
While there will be no more reading material in the back seat pocket, airline safety cards, mattresses and pillows will be disinfected after each flight.
As per Australian Government regulations, travellers with Emirates must be double vaccinated.
But that rule does not apply to the rest of Emirates network.
Mr Brown said they have to only take double vaccinated passengers with a negative PCR test and assured them the airline has “complimentary Covid-19 cover”, with a flexible booking policy to May 2022 in case travellers need to change travel plans, with some tickets being extended by up to 36 months.
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