Emirates confirm New Zealand flights!

[cyclops camel]

EK press release today.

EMIRATES TO FLY TO NEW ZEALAND FROM AUGUST 1

DUBAI, 9 June 2003 - Emirates' Chairman, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum has announced that the airline will start services between Dubai and Auckland, New Zealand on August 1.

From that date, Emirates' daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne will be extended on to Auckland providing a total of 14 flights weekly in each direction.

Emirates daily flights to Brisbane, scheduled to start October 26, will also be extended to Auckland, increasing Emirates' services across the Tasman Sea to 21 weekly. The airline has full traffic rights between Auckland and all three Australian gateways.

Sheikh Ahmed said: "The UAE and New Zealand have enjoyed an air services agreement for some years. These new services follow the recent agreement on traffic rights between the governments of Australia and the UAE, which allows Emirates to operate with full traffic rights from all points in Australia. Our flights offer Australian and New Zealand passengers a greater choice of carrier across the Tasman Sea. I am grateful to the Australian Government for the opportunity this affords us to extend trade and leisure travel opportunities in this increasingly popular region of the world."

Sheikh Ahmed added: "When Emirates introduces non-stop flights to Sydney on October 26, we will offer an unrivalled one-stop service between Dubai and New Zealand."

Emirates, is based in Dubai, a total open skies environment. The airline has never received protection or financial subsidy from the Dubai Government. Yet, it is not only among the world’s fastest-growing airlines, it is also one of the world's five most profitable.

The new services will delight the New Zealand community in the UAE, increase trade between the two countries and open up a stunningly beautiful and extremely safe destination for leisure travellers from the Middle East.

They will also offer passengers to Auckland a choice of departure times from Dubai, varying with the three different gateways used. The flights will be operated with a Boeing 777-300 aircraft in three-class configuration offering 18 First, 42 Business and 320 Economy seats plus cargo capacity of 17 to 20 tonnes.

Auckland, located on New Zealand's North Island, is called the City of Sails because of its extensive sailing and water sports facilities. Not only is it New Zealand's business capital, the city was recently ranked fifth-equal (alongside Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Bern and Sydney) in the annual quality-of-life survey of 215 cities by the global consultancy Mercer Human Resource Consulting

Auckland's fertile valleys and offshore islands are home to award-winning wineries. Family attractions abound and the city has plenty of adrenaline for adventure lovers. Auckland also offers shopping, nightlife and unrivalled cuisine.

Auckland's international airport offers a wide range of restaurants, shops and recreational facilities for both adults and children plus care for passengers with special needs. These include playgrounds and day-rooms for children, a museum, golf and a gym.

Emirates flights schedules are as follows, with all times given being local.

Flights via Sydney
Daily flights will depart Dubai at 0815, arrive Singapore at 1935, depart Singapore at 2045 and arrive Sydney at 0605 the following day. The flight will then depart Sydney at 0735 and arrive Auckland at 1225.

Return flights will depart Auckland at 1750, arrive Sydney at 1905, depart Sydney at 2020, arrive Singapore at 0215 the following day, depart Singapore at 0325 and arrive Dubai at 0625. These flights will be operated with a Boeing 777-300

With the introduction of the super long-range Airbus A340-500 on the route from October 26, flights will depart Dubai at 1015 and arrive Sydney at 0710 the following day. Flights will depart Sydney at 0835 and arrive Auckland at 1330.

The return flights will depart Auckland at 1935, arrive Sydney at 2045, depart Sydney at 2200 and arrive Dubai at 0540 the following day.

Flights via Melbourne
Daily flights will depart Dubai at 0220, arrive Singapore at 1405, depart Singapore at 1520 and arrive Melbourne at 0035 the following day. The flights will depart Melbourne at 0830 and arrive Auckland at 1400.

The return flights will depart Auckland at 1600, arrive Melbourne at 1750, depart Melbourne at 1905, arrive Singapore at 0100 the following day, depart Singapore at 0210 and arrive Dubai at 0515.

Flights via Brisbane
Starting October 26, flights will depart Dubai at 0830, arrive Singapore at 1935, depart Singapore at 2045, arrive Brisbane at 0605 the following day, depart Brisbane at 0735 and arrive Auckland at 1330.

The return flights will depart Auckland at 1835, arrive Brisbane at 1900, depart Brisbane at 2015, arrive Singapore at 0145 the following day, depart Singapore at 0300 and arrive Dubai at 0620.

END-

Can't wait for that trip! CC. :ok:

[Wirraway]

This works out approx an extra 1100 seats per day across
the Tasman, surely with this news Alan Fels will now approve
the QF/ANZ deal, if not it is going to cost QF plenty of lost
business pax that it now enjoys. With all the recent complaints
I have read recently about QF cabin service, it might be time
for Geoff Dixon to put the stick behind his F/As and bring them
up to speed.

Wirraway

[jungly]

I hear Cathay is looking at Brisbane - Christchurch too!
Hold on to your hat.......I hear the natives are getting restless;)

[Wirraway]

NZPA

Emirates Air to enter trans-Tasman market in August

10.06.2003 10.00 am

Dubai owned Emirates Air is set to begin flying trans-Tasman routes from August 1.

The airline will introduce two flights daily to Auckland, one each from Sydney and Melbourne, with a third daily flight starting on October 26 from Brisbane.

A spokesman for Emirates told National Radio this morning the airline was pleased to be able to extend its Dubai to Australia services to New Zealand.

"We have an opportunity and our aircraft already fly all the way to Sydney and Melbourne, and Brisbane in the future. As such it was very easy to get them into the market because of the fact that we already fly into these points.

"We believe that we can offer a good service and we are very confident about our ability to compete."

The spokesman said the airline hoped the service would improve the flow of people, goods and services between New Zealand and the Middle East and Africa.

The entry of Emirates Air into the trans-Tasman market may provide the competition with Air New Zealand and Qantas services that the Australasian airlines require for their proposed alliance to be approved by competition watchdogs.

Emirates has had theoretical access to the New Zealand market for some time under an open skies agreement but was only granted permission to fly trans-Tasman routes by the Australian government late last month.

Air New Zealand chief executive Ralph Norris was this morning keen to emphasise the additional competition Emirates would bring to what was already a competitive route.

Emirates was set to become the 12th airline flying the Tasman, he told National Radio.

"I believe it just underlines the fact that anybody really can enter this market and compete on the Tasman... It's probably the most highly competed stretch of water after the Atlantic in the world," he said.

- NZPA

[Kaptin M]

It's probably the most highly competed stretch of water after the Atlantic in the world,

In that case, I'm surprised that Air New Zealand and QANTAS don't run more frequent, and/or higher capacity aircraft to meet the demand.
I travel that route 3 or 4 times in 12 months, and the aircraft have been invariably chock-a-block. About 2 years ago I tried it on an interline staff ID (which worked out about the same as a full EY ticket, but was sub-load), and missed out.

Speaking to friends in Hanmer Springs (a small alpine village about 130 kms north of Christchurch) on Saturday, who told me that they wanted to go CHC-BNE in July, but were unable to get seats.

Additionally, Australia and New Zealand have been seen as "safe havens" from SARS, and I believe that tourist numbers have increased (as opposed to have diminished considerably) as these 2 countries have become a couple of the more popular destinations of choice for holidaymakers.

If ever Air New Zealand had THE opportunity to capitalise on New Zealand as a destination in its own right, then NOW is it.

Obviously Emirates (and Cathay?) marketing has been quick to realise the untapped potential of the passengers left behind by TE and QF.

[Bombay]

Kaptin M,

QF and TE? Just how old are you??? <grin>

[MTOW]

Despite all Skippy’s efforts to screw EK to the wall over its rights into Sydney through their own private government minister, they’re going to have to look very closely at their product after the Oz/Kiwi travelling public get a taste of the EK widebodies and superlative cabin service. 737s mostly crewed by scowling matrons and… (how shall I put this Politically Correctly?) – chaps-with-attitude just aren’t going to cut it against 777s crewed by what must be the hardest working – and usually smiling! - cabin crew – of both genders – it has been my pleasure to pax with.

Looks like a split duty for the EK crews in Auckland, but whatever they come up with for the Sydney / Brisbane / Melbourne stopover after Aug 1st can’t help but be an improvement on the current ‘day over’ they ‘enjoy’ in Sydney.

[Big Kahuna]

Rumour has it that Royal Brunei are also starting AKL-BNE from the 26th October, funny that.

Cathay are also to go back to 10 times a week service to HKG from the 4th July.

All good for the travelling public, but I think some airlines wont last the distance.

[Wirraway]

Wed "Dominion Post" NZ

Emirates' arrival has downside for airline alliance
11 June 2003
By ROELAND VAN DEN BERGH

Emirates Airlines' decision to compete on the Tasman from August was not the "silver bullet" needed to get the proposed Air New Zealand-Qantas alliance past regulators, an aviation expert says.


Dubai-based Emirates will fly daily from Auckland to Sydney and Melbourne from August 1 and add a daily service to Brisbane on October 26, making it the third-biggest competitor on the route.

Air New Zealand, Freedom and Qantas dominate the Tasman routes between Auckland and the main Australian cities with a total of 109 flights out of the 130 services flown by seven passenger airlines at the moment.

Emirates would add 21 flights a week by the end of October, increasing the market share of all other airlines on the Tasman out of Auckland to nearly 28 per cent.

Other airlines with limited services, mainly to Brisbane, include Thai Air, Lan Chile, Garuda Indonesia and Malaysian Airlines.

But Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation Studies managing director Peter Harbison said the Emirates decision was not the "silver bullet" for the Air New Zealand-Qantas alliance.

Though it would provide more competition on the route, it could also make it more difficult for Virgin Blue to enter the market, Mr Harbison said.

That could be detrimental to New Zealand because Virgin Blue would compete more effectively with a combined Air New Zealand and Qantas by providing more frequency, and as a domestic competitor. That domestic competition in New Zealand may not happen if Virgin Blue considered the Tasman was too risky.

An Air New Zealand-Qantas alliance has been rejected by regulators in both counties as too anti-competitive.

The sooner-than-expected start by Emirates was aimed at fulfilling the Australian competition watchdog's requirement for more competition before approving the Air New Zealand Qantas alliance, Emirates regional manager Eddie Lim said.

The service would need to achieve load factors of 70 per cent with a reasonable yield to trigger further services, he said.

The trans-Tasman route was going through a transitional period with more airlines expected to enter the market. "So we have to see what the competition is like and what the operation is like" before expanding further.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said Emirates would provide another service to Europe and would encourage high-value tourism from the Middle East where Tourism New Zealand had been marketing for a few years while also increasing competition on the Tasman.

The strength of Emirates schedule on the Tasman was "impressive", Mr Hickton said. "We didn't think it would be this regular, this quickly. That means they can build a schedule that people can rely on

==========================================

[flyby_kiwi]

Not to mention the other players along the same route such as Royal Tongan, Polynesian Airlines, Aerolineas Argentina, Lan Chile, Thai, Singapore, Freedom and Garuda.

Looks like youd have to wait longer for a bus into town than a flight across the Tassie.

Without having a background in airline finanace, it makes me wonder how could it be so profitiable, especially at the moment when the loadings are seldom over 110/120 pax.

Prehaps those stories over the years of "the industry is going through a tough time but things will pick up" could be actually happening?

Kaptin M, Have to agree Hamner Springs really is a nice place and if you ever travel back to Chch in a light a/c than Id suggest a slight diverson inland low level over Lake Sumner - I personally think its the best sight in the upper South Island.:ok:

[cyclops camel]

Can't vouch for the others, but the EK aircraft which were normally sitting around all day must already be paid for on existing flights. This allows their use across the Tasman for fuel, crew and airway costs etc. Allegedly there will be enough freight out of NZ to DXB to more than justify these costs. Any pax will be cream on the top!
Roll on the A340 - expecting big announcement next week in Paris. Look for the launch of the A340-600 Heavy.
:ok:

[Pete Conrad]

MTOW, you are so correct.The white rat could never compete with EK or SQ who are yet to show their hand in this part of the world.

[anti-skid]

"extremely safe destination for leisure travellers from the Middle
East" :uhoh:

[loungelizard]

I like ya sense of humour there Anti- Skid !!

MTOW, you hit the nail right on the head. MMMMM, I do feel an ugly change is a comin to some "career" Tech and Cabin Crew.

Keep safe lads.

Lizard.

[pa31p]

when can we buy seats on their trans tasman flights?

anyone know when they go on sale?

[halas]

Hey I'm top bid in August:D

Auckland, here l come!!!!

look forward to seeing Kiwi's in the natural habitat.
Bondi that is on the 48 hour layover in Steak'n'kidney!

halas