Emirates Launches Montreal Flights With Boeing 777

Smart move!

Montreal has a larger population than Vancouver and is also extremely culturally diverse. Moreover, unlike Vancouver where East Asia and subcontinent-bound passengers have the choice of either flying eastwards or westwards with the myriad of options from other Asian carriers, almost all traffic from montreal to Asia and the Subcontinent has to fly eastward via Europe or soon via Dubai. Less competition in Montreal, too, for emirates with no Asian carriers serving this city despite a large and sizeable Asian, Indian and Iranian population.

Why Montreal and not Vancouver?

Tres bon a entendre!

And yet another opportunity for EK to charge Aeroplan miles of 400K showing as "First Class" where only the final sector is in First, while getting to Dubai is in Economy, on those sectors North America to the Indian subcontinent.

Really miss the old Aeroplan where you'd get so many different carriers....now just Emirates and the only choice to fly First.....well for less than 3 hours up front and 14 hours plus at the back of the bus lol

because Montreal is a bigger city in a bigger province with a better suited demographic. Emerites is using Dubai as a gateway to other places, most flyers on the Pacific go the other way across the Pacific to get to those destinations... that's why.

But I guess it's a little sad that Emirates won't be sending the a380

I wonder why though.

Still waiting for the Yellowknife announcement.

I think they might be saving an A380 for that new scissor hub.

Because they’re saving it for their planned flight to Yellowknife starting this fall.

Air China serviced Montreal daily non-stop from PEK. This stopped with COVID. It was quite popular. I imagine it will start again at some point.

I frequently fly QR and TK from DOH and IST respectively to YUL. Both those routes seem very successful from what I see. Nice to have another option.

You'd think YYZ would be a one-stop destination to the YUL market. Additionally, it's worth noting that EK doesn't face much competition in the YYZ market.

Great news
It’s time Qatar Airways has competition now
Qatar Airways vs Emirates airways

Will bring down the pride of QA charging exorbitant fares

Let’s watch the competition now

But Qatar Airways Qsuite is leagues ahead of Emirates oudated business class on the 777s. But they may upgrade that to the A380 as this route matures.

I give it a few months before it gets down-sized to the 777-200LR and no chance that it ever sees an A380. I can't imagine that they're going to find any premium demand to Montreal. Looks like they're even selling the connection to and from YYZ, so that makes it seem like the flight is struggling given that YYZ and YUL are operating at roughly the same time. Qatar will make the pricing miserable for everyone, so best of luck to Emirates on this as they're going to need it.

"In terms of airlines from the region, Montreal is otherwise served by carriers like Air Algerie, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, Tunisair, and more, given that Montreal has a large population from the Middle East, Northern Africa, etc."

People need to stop conflating the two regions into one. MENA is more of a cultural and political thing, not geographical. While many from Canada may travel to parts of the Middle East like Jordan and Lebanon via Dubai or Doha, they are less likely to do so to places like Morocco or Algeria, given the extra it would incur. For that part of the Arab world it makes much more sense to transit via Europe if there are no direct flights. If anything Turkish Airlines is probably more of a competitor to Emirates than airlines like Tunisair or Royal Air Maroc.

Vancouver is ultra long haul and since they can only add 7 flights economics makes Montreal a better choice even though it's got a much lower per Capita income vs Vancouver. Reality EK is just trying to get more premium traffic from Toronto.

They wanted YYZ but it's limited landing spots meant Montreal was it's only reasonable choice. That's changed now with Air Canada moving so many flight to Montreal more landing are available in YYZ

Maybe, but most people don't care about difference as long as the seat is lie flat and the food is better than economy, especially if the fare is dramatically less. If the cost is close, then you are right.

They could be trying to target the Indian population in Montreal which connects through Dubai?

The EK 777 seat is not lie flat.

Emirates doesn't just fly to Dubai ya know! I would seriously entertain them as an option for Asia flights now. Don't forget they are also code-share with Air Canada which is great for points collection.

Iqaluit will come first!

I wont be surprised to see an upgrade to the A380 in the near future.

Air Canada business class from Vancouver to Dubai and back is one of the worst business classes that I have ever travelled. No in between snacks except samosas and salad. The same samosas that were served in their lounge. You have to ask for personal kit. There were only two washrooms, one was little bigger and the toilet was clogged. Very bad experience.