While Emirates in general is growing at an extremely fast pace, it seems like their US growth lately has been almost unparalleled. Just so far this year:
- Emirates will be adding a second daily Dubai to Seattle flight as of July 7, 2015
- Emirates will be adding a Dubai to Orlando flight as of October 1, 2015
- Emirates will be upgrading their New York to Milan flight to an A380 as of June 1, 2015
- Emirates added a fourth daily flight to New York as of March 8, 2015
While I get the added capacity to New York, the new Orlando route announcement caught me off guard. The addition of a second daily Dubai to Seattle flight kind of surprised me as well, since that’s a route they’ve only added in the past few years.
Emirates adding second daily Dubai to Boston flight
Well, it looks like the US growth is continuing, as Emirates will operate a second daily Boeing 777-300ER flight between Dubai and Boston as of November 1, 2015.
The new flight will operate with the following schedule:
EK239 Dubai to Boston departing 2:50AM arriving 8:10AM
EK240 Boston to Dubai departing 11:05AM arriving 8:15AM (+1 day)
This complements the existing daily flight, which operates with the following schedule:
EK237 Dubai to Boston departing 8:40AM arriving 2:00PM
EK238 Boston to Dubai departing 10:25PM arriving 7:35PM (+1 day)
Keep in mind that Emirates only launched their first flight to Boston as of early last year, so seeing capacity double in such a short period is amazing.
Beyond that, up until a few years ago Boston was a market which didn’t see much international service aside from Europe. Then we saw Japan Airlines add service to Tokyo Narita, Cathay Pacific will soon be launching service to Hong Kong, Hainan Airlines will be launching service to Shanghai, etc.
Is this growth being done out of pride?
There’s a huge battle right now between the big three US carriers and the big three Gulf carriers over the Open Skies agreement. While I think the US airlines have a valid point in theory, they’re making their argument so poorly, dishonestly, and tangentially, that I can’t in good conscience support their side.
Now, not to be a conspiracy theorist, but I’m guessing we’re about to see a ton of growth from Emirates in the US, and something tells me that lots of it is simply because Emirates can, as a way for them to thump their nose at the big three US carriers.
Increasing service on US route out of pride is nothing new to Emirates. After all, they started flying an A380 to Dallas around the same time that Etihad and Qatar added service from their respective hubs to Dallas, despite demand not justifying it.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of this Emirates growth in the US is simply fueled out of pride, to try and aggravate the US carriers a bit more.
Bottom line
Kudos to Emirates for their US growth. The route choices do surprise me somewhat, but I’m sure there’s at least some logic behind the growth. I would have guessed that Los Angeles or San Francisco would get a second daily flight before Boston.
What do you think Emirates’ motivation is for starting a second daily flight to Boston?
I wished one of the two flights from Boston to Dubai was an Emirates A380 airbus. I used to take A380 from JFK before services started from Boston. Since there is a huge population in the Boston and surrounding areas who travel to asia via Dubai I would suggest Emirates start an Airbus A380 from Boston to Dubai as soon as possible.
British Airways has stopped flying from London to Uganda (Africa). There is a large Ugandan community in Boston and the flights from Boston to Uganda are always packed. KLM and Delta is popular but Emirates is going to give them a run for their money. We haven't flown yet because before we had to go to JFK to get on Emirates but with two daily routes that gives us more options. Also the European airlines...
British Airways has stopped flying from London to Uganda (Africa). There is a large Ugandan community in Boston and the flights from Boston to Uganda are always packed. KLM and Delta is popular but Emirates is going to give them a run for their money. We haven't flown yet because before we had to go to JFK to get on Emirates but with two daily routes that gives us more options. Also the European airlines are starting to do what the US carriers are doing and charging you for everything including seat selection. If Emirates stays true to their service those flights will fill up.
I fly to Dubai and Emirates Airlines should be ashamed of itself for how little they pay their the "imported help". In fact, Dubai should be ashamed of itself as well. They pay the "imported help" a pittance for the work that they do. It's nearly slave labor. They even go so far as to take the passports away from those that come to work there so they cannot leave before their contract is up,...
I fly to Dubai and Emirates Airlines should be ashamed of itself for how little they pay their the "imported help". In fact, Dubai should be ashamed of itself as well. They pay the "imported help" a pittance for the work that they do. It's nearly slave labor. They even go so far as to take the passports away from those that come to work there so they cannot leave before their contract is up, even if they wanted to go back home.
ANYONE who flies on Emirates is a traitor to the United States and the U.S. carriers who are the backbone to our travel network.
Fly Delta to Dubai from Atlanta....or United from Washington DC. See for yourself that the story that ABC News did on the "Dark Side of Dubai's Boomtown" is true.
Don't be an idiot. Wake up an smell the same raping of the the American's as the Middle East enacted with pushing the oil prices to the price of $147 per barrel, helping push the Western World into recession. Finally when our economy started to recover (partly by an oil boom here in the U.S.), OPEC stated they would keep production high even as the price fell to the point that half of the rigs in the U.S. had to be shut down. OPEC tried to crack our domestic oil industry and half way succeeded.
Now the raping of the U.S. airlines....stealing U.S. passenger traffic and routing it through Dubai to Europe and beyond.
If you support it, Lucky Ben, you will be a traitor to your own country. Please speak out and protect your homeland from another rape.
At Logan Airport Emirates is using jetBlue's codesharing to create a de facto hub for itself, and the Massachusetts Port Authority is upgrading Logan Airport's infrastructure to make this arrangement work more smoothly. Not only is the airport beginning the process of rebuilding the jetways of its international terminal to accomodate the A380, it's also going to build a direct, completely enclosed walkway between that terminal and the neighboring Terminal C, where jetBlue's gates are....
At Logan Airport Emirates is using jetBlue's codesharing to create a de facto hub for itself, and the Massachusetts Port Authority is upgrading Logan Airport's infrastructure to make this arrangement work more smoothly. Not only is the airport beginning the process of rebuilding the jetways of its international terminal to accomodate the A380, it's also going to build a direct, completely enclosed walkway between that terminal and the neighboring Terminal C, where jetBlue's gates are.
When this is completed it will be possible for Emirates passengers to deplane and clear Customs in Terminal E and then walk to Terminal C to catch connecting flights without ever going outside of the secured portion of the airport (& thus not having to be rescreened by TSA before catching connecting flights in Terminal C).
When Emirates began arriving at Logan Airport jetBlue responded by increasing its number of flights between Boston and Detroit in anticipation of increased passenger load.
Lesson in geography for all:
South East Asia = Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines
South Asia = India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives
I believe the words South East Asia and South Asia has been used interchangeably in an inaccurate manner.
@Dave is right, EK is lookiing to fly the A380, and Logan will be expanding Terminal E to accommodate the A380. BA and LH have also been asked to fly the A380, so there should be lots of capacity in 2017 (earliest this will be completed)
Sorry, no source to back this up, but I've read more than once that Emirates wants to fly one A380 a day into BOS, but the airport can't [yet] support it, so they're going with 2x 777s instead for now. I believe this was part of the master expansion plan for BOS from the beginning.
Denver needs more international flights from non-US carriers. All we get is LF and BA, and IcelandAir if you count them. And the LH flight is on their old 744 with the crappy Biz class.
@Mounir -- JetBlue started flying BOS-DTW basically to serve this flight. I'm kind of surprised that Emirates hasn't expanded to DTW as well.
I'd imagine the JetBlue connection is part of this, for sure, as is the need for additional onward flights for the second wave of connections in DXB. I expect Etihad will do the same as equipment allows (their change in timing some of their N. American flights would support that). As far as increased lift into SEA goes, there is a huge South Asian community south of Vancouver in Surrey, BC, Canada - which is...
I'd imagine the JetBlue connection is part of this, for sure, as is the need for additional onward flights for the second wave of connections in DXB. I expect Etihad will do the same as equipment allows (their change in timing some of their N. American flights would support that). As far as increased lift into SEA goes, there is a huge South Asian community south of Vancouver in Surrey, BC, Canada - which is literally on the border with the US. In fact, the address of the Peace Arch border crossing is in Surrey. That's about a 2 hour drive from SeaTac. Compare that to about an hour (with the frequent traffic) into YVR and that any flight from there to the sub-continent requires at least one change of aircraft somewhere (usually either YYZ, LHR or FRA) - AND that UAE carriers are limited by the government in adding more lift to Canada - then more EK lift into SEA seems almost like a sure thing.
I go to school in Boston. There are tons of international students here. I think more airlines will come to Boston soon, especially asian airlines.
Is it really more complicated than money's no object + getting tons of new planes + need to fly them somewhere?
I wouldn't surprise it is Boston again. Most of colleges in that region allow faculties to fly on business class when trip is 8 hours or above. Even Cathay starts a route there.
Indeed,the most important cities for airlines are no other than these : Boston, New York, Miami, Chicago, DC, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles. There is obviously a shortage of business travelers a roads in other regions.
@lucky
"Keep in mind that Emirates only launched their first flight to Boston as of early next year, so seeing capacity double in such a short period is amazing."
We're you meaning to say "as of early last year"?
@ Auspointer -- Indeed. Fixed, thanks.
I'm not sure how much Emirates cares about costs at this point but BOS does have the advantage of being significantly closer to DXB than all of the other airports looking for a second Emirates flight. All things equal, flying a 77W 6,663 miles BOS-DXB is a lot cheaper than flying either a 77W or A380 8,339 miles from LAX.
Due to the vast hub and spoke model, the second flight sets up a second period of transfers in Dubai. They will need that second flight in as many markets as possible despite the performance of the first flight.
As for Seattle, there is a big East African community that would be customers. I used to see tons of them on the SEA-IAD redeye connecting to Ethiopian airlines.
"Keep in mind that Emirates only launched their first flight to Boston as of early next year, so seeing capacity double in such a short period is amazing."
Lucky EK announced the new service Fall 2013 and it launched March 2014. That was LAST year, not next year
@Mounir - South East Asians do not fly thru the Atlantic route from SEA - it's a longer route; The Pacific route would save them more time...
Anyone want to guess Emirates' next U.S. destination? I think it would be amusing to see DXB-ATL/MSP/DTW just to stick a metaphorical middle finger up at Delta and Richard Anderson.
@ Nick E -- My money is on Atlanta or Miami.
They might see the US carriers' fuss as a threat and by solidifying their presence in the US it makes it much harder for regulators to deny Emirates' operations (particularly if it involves a sizable number of local US jobs).
Back 10 years ago when I first started flying EK, I recall its only flight to the USA was to JFK. Their partnership with JetBlue at the time made a lot of sense. With this massive growth in the USA, I really don't see a need for Emirates to partner with JetBlue or Alaska or any alliance! I wouldn't be surprised if EK severs its relationship with both US carriers within the next 5 years.
My best theory for a second daily DXB-BOS route is that Emirates partners with Jetblue. Given that Jetblue hubs out of Boston, it makes sense to add a second frequency on this route which can be supported by connecting flights.
As a fellow Bostonian, I welcome this. I almost missed an Emirates flight once because of the Chelsea Street Bridge and would had to have waited an additional day for the next flight.
Growth in Seattle route: Seattle is very close to Vancouver, and due to the restrictions in flights between Canada and the UAE, you will find quite a number of people flying to Seattle and onto Vancouver, and vice versa. Vancouver has a very large South East Asian and Iranian population, so that's a target market (in addition to, of course, the market that Seattle offers in terms of business and other travellers).
Orlando, and Florida...
Growth in Seattle route: Seattle is very close to Vancouver, and due to the restrictions in flights between Canada and the UAE, you will find quite a number of people flying to Seattle and onto Vancouver, and vice versa. Vancouver has a very large South East Asian and Iranian population, so that's a target market (in addition to, of course, the market that Seattle offers in terms of business and other travellers).
Orlando, and Florida in general, has a large population of GCC students from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well, and it is not really served by Arab airlines, so the route to get there is quite hectec. Plus, a route to Orlando allows for future codeshare to Caribbean countries; so instead of people flying on European airlines to get to Dubai through Europe, they can now simply get to Florida and move to Dubai directly.
I am still waiting for the flight announcement to Detroit. Large Arab and Asian populations live in Michigan, and,again; Canadian market restrictions makes Detroit a viable alternative to Toronto.
Interesting news. The existing Boston/Dubai flight usually has many people transiting to India, no doubt pulling business from the European carriers. Wonder if this will ultimately affect the frequency of Euro carrier flights out of Boston.