Emirates is marking 20 years of flying into Perth this week with plans to return their flagship A380-800 to the city in early December.
Emirates is marking 20 years of flying to Perth this week. In August 2002, Emirates took a chance on Western Australia and began flights four times a week. There's been some turbulence along the way, notably Western Australia's recent hard border pandemic lockdown. But Australia's hermit state reopened to travelers earlier this year, and Emirates, along with other airlines, is gradually ramping up flights into Perth again.
Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown said that Emirates and Perth Airport have maintained a strong partnership over the 20 years. "Our partnership has grown even stronger with the airline restoring daily connectivity to Perth despite the challenges of a global pandemic," he said.
It took Emirates 13 years to build enough business on the Dubai (DXB) – Perth (PER) sector to deploy its flagship Airbus A380-800 on a daily basis. The service was popular with Perth locals looking for a fast and comfortable one-stop option to Europe. Emirates also did decent business flying travelers between Perth and North America. There's no quick or easy way to get to North America from Perth. You have to transit somewhere, and lots of travelers opted for Dubai over alternatives such as Singapore (SIN), Hong Kong (HKG), or Sydney (SYD).
After slashing frequencies and capacity during the pandemic – at one point even stopping flights, Emirates is rebuilding its Perth schedules during its 20th year of flying into the city. These days, the airline is back to daily flights. EK420 heads out of DXB very early every morning for a late afternoon same-day touchdown in Perth after almost 11 hours in the air. Later that evening, the aircraft turns around to operate EK421, arriving back in Dubai in time for breakfast the next day.
After pulling their A380 out of Perth after the first COVID-19 outbreak, Emirates now has a three-class Boeing 777-300ER flying the route. The daily flights are adding over 700 seats a day into the Perth market. But in early December, that capacity will increase when Emirates sends their jumbo back to Perth.
"We look forward to welcoming back its flagship A380 aircraft later this year from December 1, 2022," says Mr Brown. The bigger plane will add an extra 300 seats a day into Perth Airport.
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Considering Perth Airport's middling passenger numbers, the airport attracts an outsized amount of attention. Much of that is because of a couple of high-profile long-haul international routes Qantas operates from Perth – QF9/10 to London Heathrow and QF5/6 to Rome. But Perth remains poorly connected to the rest of the world, with several international airlines flying in before COVID-19 yet to return.
Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, THAI Airways, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Scoot, Malindo Air, and Jetstar all fly in from Asian ports, with All Nippon Airways joining the fray in October. Qatar Airways and Emirates come in from their Gulf hubs and from the east, Air New Zealand jets in from Auckland (AKL). Air Mauritius is restarting flights from the gloriously named Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (MRU) in November, and Qantas is adding flights to Johannesburg (JNB) and Jakarta (CGK) in the same month.
That's a grand total of 14 international airlines serving or soon to serve Perth. That is not a huge amount of choice and connectivity. However, as the only airline sending an A380 into Perth by the year's end, at least Emirates will stand out from the pack.
Lead Journalist – Southwest Pacific -.A Masters level education and appetite for travel combine to make Andrew an incredible aviation brain with decades of insight behind him. Andrew’s first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing Australian airlines adds exciting depth and color to his work. Andrew is based in Sydney.