Emirates operates a huge number of fifth freedom routes, ranging from New York to Milan, to Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, to Male to Colombo, to Bangkok to Hong Kong. The airline has just formally cut one of its longest standing fifth freedom flights, and I can’t say I’m surprised. While we learned about…
Continue reading: Emirates Axes Singapore To Melbourne Fifth Freedom Flight
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Not a huge loss as a Melburnian. SQ is still my go to choice on that route with up to 5 daily departures. EK are bringing in a 3rd daily nonstop flight between MEL and DXB which is great for competition and fares
I'm impacted. Received the email and was told no alternative options are available. Have already called them will try again tomorrow (in Australia). I booked before they announced the cancellation of this flight.
I see we mention capacity to Melbourne in the article, but is capacity to Singapore unchanged (i.e. EK404/EK405 keep running, just only on the leg between DXB and SIN)? As someone who flies on Emirates out of SIN, EK404 is the only flight that connects from BOS-DXB, ORD-DXB, MCO-DXB, etc, unless you want to wait from 7 pm to 2:30 am... so would be nice to see the service kept.
Relic of a bygone era. Honestly surprised EK kept it this long. They should have better uses for the plane.
Please let us know how it turns out. I'm curious to know how Emirates accommodates passengers when they cancel routes.
As mentioned in the post:
“ Emirates will continue to codeshare with Qantas on the route.”
So, wouldn’t that be the obvious solution?
How can they say that there is no alternative when the same route can still be booked under EK flight number?
Exactly right - in the grand scheme, this is not a huge loss to the route. SQ operates five times daily, QF twice, Jetstar and Scoot both have a daily service too.
Could you please explain the great interest in 5th freedom routes among those in the points space? I've heard about them for years and wondering if there is something unique about them, other than being an "oddity", that makes them special? E.g. more award space????
I actually booked through QF. It was a rewards booking in F. There are no alternatives for F from MEL to SIN that are direct.
I spoke to QF early this morning. I managed to get a flight from MEL to SYD and then SYD to SIN in F. The Mel to SYD part is in economy. I tried to discuss that and refunding the exorbitant EK fees but the person became flustered so I decided to take the partial win (F from SYD to SIN). I will call back later today to discuss the other parts that are still open.
Will it be on a Airbus A380 or a Boeing 777-300ER?.
I really like Emirates Singapore to Melbourne route.
Just before the pandemic I remember they started a route from Singapore to somewhere in Malaysia, what happened to that?