I have been looking at the prices for holidays to the far east and companies are charging up to £200 extra to fly from MAN opposed to other EK airports in the UK - and that includes LHR.
Just do a quick search between DXB and the UK destinations and then put in MAN - I guarantee it is higher.
Then why not go and ask EK staff why this is!!! Surely they would be able to give a straight forward answer, after all it's in their interest to fill the 380 plus other services. If NCL and BHX are showing cheaper fares then there must be a problem