Airlines around the world are making all kinds of temporary route cuts, though it looks like Emirates is permanently axing one of its US destinations.
In this post:
Emirates canceling Fort Lauderdale flights
Emirates has updated its schedule to permanently pull its Dubai to Fort Lauderdale flight.
The route was previously supposed to resume on September 1, 2020. While the date of service resumption certainly could have been pushed back, the fact that the route has been pulled all the way through the end of the schedule suggests that this is a permanent cut.
Emirates launched this route in late 2016. The airline chose Fort Lauderdale over Miami due to its partnership with JetBlue, as JetBlue has a hub in Fort Lauderdale. This was practical for connections to & from Latin America, though one also has to wonder just how many connecting passengers there were, and also how high yielding there were. The US isn’t exactly a great place for connections between other countries, since there’s no sterile transit.
Based on everything I’ve heard, the flight never performed particularly well. Most recently Emirates operated the flight four times per week — Emirates operates to a vast majority of destinations daily, and when the route launched it was also operated daily. The fact that Emirates reduced frequencies suggests it wasn’t performing well.
That leaves Qatar Airways as the only one of the “big three” Gulf carriers to fly to South Florida, as the airline flies between Doha and Miami. This route seems to do pretty well thanks to Qatar Airways’ partnership with American Airlines.
Emirates is cutting its Dubai to Fort Lauderdale flight
Emirates adjusting two other US routes
While Fort Lauderdale is the only US destination that Emirates is pulling out of completely, the airline is also making a couple of further adjustments to US routes that I would consider to be pretty significant:
- Emirates’ Dubai to Milan to New York flight will be operated by a 777-300ER rather than an A380
- Emirates’ nonstop Dubai to Newark flight (which only launched in 2018) will be canceled, while the carrier’s Dubai to Athens to Newark flight will remain
There will be no more showering on flights between the US and Europe
Bottom line
Emirates is cutting its Dubai to Fort Lauderdale flight, and is also canceling its nonstop Dubai to Newark flight. On top of that, the Dubai to Milan to New York flight will be downgraded to a 777.
All of these changes are “permanent,” which is to say that they show as being valid through the end of the schedule. There’s a chance that things will change again at some point in the future, though I wouldn’t count on it.
Are you surprised by these changes from Emirates?
Good
Fort Lauderdale and the rest of Broward county is the proverbial ball and chain of South Florida. Say what you want about Miami (perdon, digame lo que quieres decir de Miami) but Miami is the superior destination and has the infrastructure to handle whatever Emirates wants to throw at it.
Gates J17, E24/E25 and E6/E8 can handle the A380 just fine.
I will never understand why Emirates would choose FLL over MIA besides Jetblue and Cruises
How does Qatar and Turkish make South Florida work?
I was to be on that Sept 1rst flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Qatar, right now is not flying Doha to Miami like it was. Now they are flying to Houston and then American flys you into MIA. Instead of landing in Miami at 4:30 pm you now arrive into Miami from the Houston stop at close to 11pm
I'm sure there are a lot more reasons for pulling out from the route besides hiding behind the Covid-19 excuse that so many other airlines have done. However, from a personal perspective, it seems like Emirates never truly leveraged the partnership with jetBlue from the beginning. I recall that they initially started with a minimal domestic offering on jetBlue, then came a reciprocal agreement to Dubai. The international side of the partnership, which is what...
I'm sure there are a lot more reasons for pulling out from the route besides hiding behind the Covid-19 excuse that so many other airlines have done. However, from a personal perspective, it seems like Emirates never truly leveraged the partnership with jetBlue from the beginning. I recall that they initially started with a minimal domestic offering on jetBlue, then came a reciprocal agreement to Dubai. The international side of the partnership, which is what is truly need to the cruise ship crew contracts throughout the Caribbean and beyond, never happened until two years into their operation. Even the international offering wasn't the full offering on jetBlue. Over the years, it appears like Emirates loves to talk about partnerships but in the end their partnerships teams can never really get it across the line and prove that they have what it takes to back up that claim.
Another point I noticed over the years that Emirates has been operating in FLL is that I could always connect cheaper from the Northeastern US via FLL to Emirates' network. This must've been a huge impact to the revenue generation on the route. Again, partly due to their partnership agreement and most likely paying out more to jetBlue for the longer connection. For example, I once looked at flying BOS to JNB on EK, QR, BA and LH. EK had the cheapest price, but required me to go through FLL. I didn't mind then extended journey time and so I bought the ticket BOS-FLL-DXB-JNB and returned that way in order to save a couple hundred dollars. Emirates is either lazy, stupid or flat out doesn't understand the pricing/inventory aspect of an airline and/or the partnership model.
I imagine that they'll probably end up cutting Newark next along with Seattle and Orlando, or at least significant reductions in Seattle and Orlando. If FLL was an indication, they're clueless on how to leverage a partnership and how to price these smaller, less-utilized airports. Keep in mind jetBlue recently ramped up in EWR, so EK will probably ignore that and/or do something stupid there as well!
Someone didn’t do their research very well... this flight did quite well actually averaging in the 90% load factor range for the winter months and going as low as 73% in some of the slow summer months. Orlando was a daily flight in the beginning as well and was for a while but due to sanctions put on the Middle East right after the FLL flight started, it decreased the amount of people that had...
Someone didn’t do their research very well... this flight did quite well actually averaging in the 90% load factor range for the winter months and going as low as 73% in some of the slow summer months. Orlando was a daily flight in the beginning as well and was for a while but due to sanctions put on the Middle East right after the FLL flight started, it decreased the amount of people that had interest in the US coming from the Middle East. Look at the numbers and do some freaking research before you post about it.
ha ha ha ha ha
I can't stop
ha ha ha
I can't
ha ha
I can't stop laughing to write this
ha ha ha
lmao in internet lingo
ha ha
the title of the post is hilarious and obscene
the url uses the words "emirates cancels fort lauderdale flights" but the title reads "Emirates Pulls out of Fort Lauderdale".
ha ha ha
...
ha ha ha ha ha
I can't stop
ha ha ha
I can't
ha ha
I can't stop laughing to write this
ha ha ha
lmao in internet lingo
ha ha
the title of the post is hilarious and obscene
the url uses the words "emirates cancels fort lauderdale flights" but the title reads "Emirates Pulls out of Fort Lauderdale".
ha ha ha
obscene, as in premature ejaculation
sorry, hope I am not banned for Lucky (Ben) has the best travel blog in the world of which I like to make serious comments from time to time.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Emirates comes back to South Florida but this time to MIA. Codeshares may be need though.
When did Emirates go to an A380 on JFK-Milan? It was a 777 years ago when I took the valentines sale. The jfk-dbx a380 was next to us as we pushed back. Milan is the highest contested international destination from the NYC area right?
I see that the Newark- Dubai Route on the Emirates website it says that it will resume the service on March 28.,2021
Emirates should start it's new destination like Atlanta or Detroit, where they get v good response especially Detroit the Automobile city.
@Sal........You write "FLL is a dump full of low-rent, unwashed Spirit passengers."
What a profiling bigot you must be. So let me take a page from your book here. Is Sal your real name? Are you a son of some ex mafia? Are you Jewish ? Whatever you are, you need to get a life.
@Sharon
Do you live in Miami? Hotspot with no end in sight? A little bit dramatic, isn't it?
Overall, not surprising that EK is pulling out. QR is still scheduled to return to MIA but not counting on it. Hopefully the alliance with AA helps fill the plane
It is sad we hundreds are holding valid tickets of Emirates.
Initially, EK was operating three classes of services. Prior to the pandemic, the DXB-FLL nonstop was the new two-class configuration with the new J class. I believe EK didn't have a lounge arrangement @ FLL and premium passengers were given vouchers to use around the terminal. Can someone please confirm if this is correct and for how much?
@fllttravel - may have been for cruise line employees
@Sam
I also saw an Emirates plane flying to FLL. I had my hope up for the route opening up but I guess no more.
Maybe the plane was used for cargo purposes.
I'm positive I saw an Emerites 777 at FLL last week. I was trying to figure out why. Does anyone have any idea?
Jetblue cutting Mexico city eliminated a valuable connecting option in FLL
FLL is a dump full of low-rent, unwashed Spirit passengers. Last time I was there, I thought I might get shanked by a panhandler in the washroom or get an STD sitting in the holdroom. Most offensively, it has no lounges in T4 so EK premium pax were forced to wait amongst the hoi polloi. I get a private suite inflight but cannot even get a lounge on the ground? No! I would choose TK or QR from MIA solely for that reason.
The good thing is that Orlando is a focus city for Jetblue so many of the Latin America routes flown from FLL are also flown from MCO. And I doubt MCO will be cut permanently since there is a lot of local demand as well as tourism (once that picks up though)
The other thing to mention is that at least some of the traffic on this route was driven by the cruise industry,. With demand for the cruises taking a hit, it likely had influence on this decision.
@Zoheb Akhtar Orlando is not considered to be South Florida which is what Ben's comment was addressing.
Not surprised about this, but definitely disappointed. I've taken this flight before as it was very convenient for me. Was hoping to take it again once things clear up with the COVID situation, but now I'll need to look for alternatives.
Fort Lauderdale is a cleaner and more inoffensive Miami.
I’m pretty sure Emirates are scheduled to fly tonOrlando, so Qatar isn’t the only one flying to Florida.
This makes sense.
Demand for inbound US travel has dried up, Miami is now a hot spot with no end in sight, and Americans can’t travel abroad.