Emirates has cut New Zealand flights from now until November by 36%, a loss of about 172,000 seats.
The planned reintroduction of Emirates' non-stop to Auckland has been pushed back to December 1st, while Christchurch won't return until November 30th. They're now due to resume during New Zealand's summer season.
It shows the fragility of the recovery, and it is despite New Zealand gradually opening up again. The long time until they return will hopefully mean that further postponements won't be needed.
The development follows numerous other changes in the past week, including the A380 being removed from eight cities for the rest of the year and 12 additional changes.
The largest of the Middle East big three, Emirates currently has a 1x daily flight to New Zealand. It routes Dubai-Kuala Lumpur-Auckland and back the same way utilizing B777-300ERs. It's noteworthy that it doesn't have fifth-freedom traffic rights between Malaysia and New Zealand.
Emirates has exclusively served Auckland via Kuala Lumpur since mid-2020 and it was to be replaced by Dubai-Auckland non-stop from July 1st. However, passengers will now have to wait four more months for Emirates' much quicker option.
At least Auckland will still have Emirates service, unlike Christchurch. Until late November, passengers will have to continue to connect onto Qantas/Jetstar codeshare flights in Sydney, Melbourne, and/or Auckland, ensuring a longer journey time and more hassle. It's a good few hours longer than a one-stop in Singapore with Singapore Airlines.
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Subject to any further alteration, Emirates has the following bookable from December onwards, with all times local. Notice Auckland's 10h 10m ground time in Auckland, fully so that aircraft return to the UAE in time to connect across large amounts of destinations, especially in Europe.
It'll use 302-seat B777-200LRs to New Zealand's largest city. Christchurch, meanwhile, will again see the A380, with 484-seat equipment to be used, according to OAG. This is Emirates' lowest-capacity double-decker. The four-class layout has 14 first suites, 76 seats in business, 56 in premium economy, and 388 in economy.
The New Zealand adjustments join numerous others in the latest filing. These include the postponement of London Stansted, which won't now resume until at least August 1st. When it does, it'll be 5x weekly by the B777-300ER, rising to 1x daily from September.
Many routes see frequency cuts for at least part of summer. These include Lisbon and Madrid (now 1x daily in July instead of the planned 2x), Beirut (2x daily May onwards versus 3x), Amsterdam (2x daily July-October from up to 3x), and Amman (2x daily in July/August versus 3x). Expect many more changes in the coming weeks.
Which airlines have you flown from New Zealand? Let us know by commenting.
Route Development Analyst – James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven analysis for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.
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