Rumor: Emirates’ Next US Destinations Will Be Phoenix And Buffalo

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: November 8, 2016

48 comments

Emirates is one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, and their US route network has continued to grow significantly. Most recently Emirates has announced that they’re launching flights between Dubai and Fort Lauderdale as of next month, which caught many people off guard. However, I can certainly make sense of it, given Emirates’ partnership with JetBlue.

Well, crazy as it may sound, it looks like we now have a hint as to what Emirates’ next US destinations will be. Rumor has it that Emirates will be announcing flights from Dubai to Buffalo and Phoenix shortly.

dxb-us

Emirates’ online routemap shows all the destinations that the airline serves nonstop. Fort Lauderdale showed up as a destination shortly before the route was formally announced, though it has since been removed.

However, when looking at the map you’ll notice that it newly lists both Buffalo and Phoenix as Emirates destinations.

emirates-buffalo

emirates-phoenix

So it sure seems like an announcements of these routes is coming shortly:

Phoenix probably doesn’t surprise many people, given that it’s one of the larger US markets that Emirates doesn’t presently serve
Buffalo might sound crazy, but it’s right on the border with Canada, and keep in mind that the Canadian government has a very protectionist approach with their airlines, and has greatly limited Gulf carrier expansion in their country; a flight to Buffalo would serve many people living across the border, and also be a way for Emirates to tell the Canadian government how they feel about that policy 😉

The one questionable thing is that the runway in Buffalo is just 8,829 feet long. Based on my research, it looks like a 777 needs just about that much length to take off. So I’m not sure if the flight would be fine as is, if it would need to be weight restricted, or if it would operate via a third city.

Emirates-777

Do you think this is website glitch, or could you see Emirates announcing flights to Buffalo and Phoenix?

(Tip of the hat to euroxx)

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Frankie P. Guest

December 16, 2017, 8:16 am

Wow I was not expecting Buffalo, but I live in Buffalo and I'm used to just seeing Delta, JetBlue, and American but Why Emerates? At first I thought it was because Niagara Falls which is about 30 min. away from Buffalo. This flight will let Indian and Chinese people to get to Niagara falls easier as well as other people around the world. The only international flights that Buffalo has are seasonal flights to Mexico, Dominican Republic, and to Canada. There is a few problems though. First the runway is a little to short, second there is no official customs area, and third the airport is sometimes closed because of the snow. If Emerates did fly to Buffalo the airport will have to do some expansion and it will be more convenient for some people because it is closer to Niagara Falls than Toronto and it will be easier for people in the area to go to that region.

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Aidan Dugan Guest

August 18, 2017, 6:33 pm

I know the BUF airport very well. I have talked to many workers that work there and they said the only aircraft the runways cannot accomadate is the A380. Throughout the years, I have seen lots of 777 charters and a few 747's. Buffalo can certainly support these aircrafts. As we all know, Buffalo is becoming a bigger city and is starting to thrive again. This could even lead to a new terminal and more international flights and airlines. Possibly 787's by 2020 is what they told me when I asked. And we could definitely use a runway extension, but the only problem with that is that the airport is built in the middle of a neighborhood. It will be extremely hard to come up with an extension. More and more people are moving to Buffalo and and many Canadiens like you have said, use KBUF as an airport to use instead of Toronto Pearson. A second terminal would be great with some heavies. Buffalo deserves it, and it would be beneficial. However, Dubai down not seem like it would be realistic. Buffalo needs more flights to European cities. On that note, who agrees?

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Max Guest

August 12, 2017, 4:46 am

Alex, The Phoenix Sky Harbor Facebook page just posted an inquiry to the public asking people about their travels to and from the Indian subcontinent/Middle East/Africa/Asia and that they want to pass on the data to airlines. I could only imagine that they would be talking about ME3 and hopefully Emirates.

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alex Guest

May 12, 2017, 4:54 pm

any update to this rumor. now that emirates is cutting service to US may 1st onward there less chance of this happening.

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Stuart Member

November 13, 2016, 2:01 pm

In the travel industry, BUF has long been referred to as "Toronto Pearson Terminal 4" so it's not a stretch to think any carrier might operate there with the Toronto/Hamilton/Niagara market as their principal target. I, for one, believe that EK (and/or EY who also operates into Toronto 3x/week, representing 6x/week flights between Canada and the UAE, which is how these types of agreements are structured) could fill at least daily, if not more frequent, A380/777 flights. Flipside, as has been mentioned, is that the change in the CAD/USD exchange rate and increasing pain/delays at the land border makes flying into/out of BUF less attractive than it had been previously. But, there are still a lot of Canadians in Southern Ontario for whom BUF is a closer/easier option than YYZ so it wouldn't shock me to see it happen - presuming the operational issues around runway length, CBP staff on-site (I don't think they normally have any at BUF?) etc. were addressed.

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