Its simply not going to happen anytime soon. Until and unless we have a nice booming economy, a runway extension and EK take leave of their senses they will find higher yielding routes to ply their trade on.

Park the idea until 2012 when you can also then start talking about NY again, oh no, I said it, standby for lunatic ideas...

Dont think the airport would keep the airbridge stand free on the 'off chance' - in fact it has been used between those times, so that rumour is just that. Pax figures are healthy on DXB, but not constant enough to warrant a 777. A 777-300 would have difficulties and would EK really put a 777LR on such a route? The A330 is suitable and doing well.

Talking about 777s and NCL, I see a BA example diverted into NCL from Atlanta this morning, along with a couple of other BA euro flights.

Did someone say New York :E.

Transwede
Correct we don't keep stand 30/9 free on the off chance. All stand allocations are seasonally allocated and that stand is regularly used once the emirates has departed. However, if EK did decide to go double daily then it would get that stand with the airbridge. It can also accomodate a 777 (before anyone asks).

As for a runway extension, nooooooo chance:p. If it was in the Airports plans then it would have been carried out last winter, when the current runway was resurfaced and the airfield was closed. We have also just had new ILS's on both runways at a massive cost. Extending the runway would mean ripping 1 of those out.

If EK were planning on upgrading, then they would already know what issues they may have with that aircraft and expected performance off 25.

Ops Guy :ok:

Well said Ops Guy, isn't the reality that if it was operating consistently at close to capacity that all other economic arguements aside, they would likely stick additional rotations on using 332 kit, say extra on Wednesdays and Saturdays for example before going double daily IF it was a runaway success.

I wouldn't expect 777 anytime soon from anyone (diverts excepted).

Emirates at NCL
 

It will be interesting to see what EK are planning in the longer term for NCL, because they will begin phasing out A330s later this year. B772/3 could probably operate with reduced payload or with higher than desired thrust settings. These may affect the economics of the route. A350 on order, which will probably have better field performance, but not until 2013>

Bmi Emb-145
 

What Reg Is The BMI EMB-145 Based up here doing the Brussels flights?

With ref EK and the 772ER, I asked the question on a certain other website, and got the following reply;

Dunno how true that is though...

Anyway, EK have A330-300s on order, I would expect that they would be the next a/c type the route see's (unless it gets dropped).

I am travelling on one tomorrow. Will let you know the reg.

Sam Chipperfield Hope this is of help & not meaning to be offensive, but there is a separate forum for Reggies & in addition you could also obtain full & comprehensive detail of all NCL movements by joining Air North (details available via internet).

As GrahamK says, the A333 would probably be the best bet however I think these will be 3 class aircraft.

How many 787s does EK have on order?

Mufc, 0 Afaik

Thanks.

WOW! The most successfully launched aircraft in commercial aviation history and EK isn't at the party? I am very surprised!

I did think that the A332/3, B787 AND A350XWB would be a bit too much for even EK...

December 2009 prov stats now out;

Dublin now under 10k pax a month,
Malta still going strong with 533% growth :E
Amsterdam and CDG still falling spectacularly.
Dubai up 12% to 12510 for the month

EK NCL to Dub
 

Dubai up 12% to 12510 for the month.

That averages 403.5 per day! I've had a lot ot drink tonight but I must check the a/c capacity on that daily flight.

Hey! I'm booked on it for Saturday, EK 35, then EK 421 to Perth.
Any crew members crewed for those flights? I'd love to say hellow. I'm in cattle class. Just look for Lancelot.

"AMS falling spectacularly". Very much to do with the removal of the mid morning flight. Its back for the summer but gone again for winter 2010/2011 re present plans. Cannot understand this at all. Its removal has a detrimental effect on connections.

It equals just short of 202 passengers per flight. Now that equals 72.5% on 2 class config. or 85% on a 3 class config.

It's roughly around 470 seats available daily for EK. Don't forget the stats are made up of xxx-NCL and NCL-xxx and not just NCL-xxx so any kind of remark regarding average pax per day must be divided by the total number of flights per day (i.e. EK has 1 route but 2 flights) so that an accurate load factor can be calculated on total available capacity on any given aircraft.

If EK did double the flights it would interesting to see if they could achieve the spectacular results seen when LH doubled the Dusseldorf frequency (over 90% instant increase in pax numbers....a similar result was achieved on the Copenhagen route by Cimber before the recession kicked in.

Winners & Losers
 

I think a little reality check is needed when discussing pax figures thro NCL. As regards the relative success of EK vs. the poor performance of KL / AF then there is unfortunately a link, & it concerns the limitations of the catchment area. For all to do well at NCL then you need generic growth produced from the area itself, hopefully also attracting further pax from outside the region. The generic growth is also of course linked to the ecconomy & individual wealth.
In reality EK has drawn a great deal of its traffic on Far East & Aus routes from BA & KL, which has an ever more detrinental effect of the LF's of the latter. One would suspect that the removal of a mid day AMS has only exascerbated the problem for KL & in reality will they fully recover? Interestingly one should review the overall effect that a much debated second daily EK would have on overall LF's and give greater consideration to the real growth in pax no.'s:=
The limitations on growth at NCL are clearly illustrated when the performance of Loco's such as EZY are considered, and that many earlier introduced routes have been pulled as being past their "shelf life" the interest of those able to afford having moved on. Albeit this, as an example, is more linked to the leisure side of market, but it extends into the scheduled services and at present business growth is also limited.