Emirates will add a second daily flight on its Dubai-Melbourne route, served by its flagship A380 aircraft, effective 1 May 2022. The expansion of services is supported by the Victorian Government to help fast-track the return of international flights to Melbourne and bring more visitors to the state.
The additional daily frequency between Dubai and Melbourne will grow Emirates’ seats to over 1,000 a day totalling 700,000 a year between the airline’s global Dubai hub and Victoria, with 516 seats on each flight.
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From 1 May, Emirates’ additional daily flight will depart Dubai daily at 10:05pm, arriving in Melbourne at 5:30am the next day. From Melbourne, the flight will depart at 5:15am and arrive in Dubai at 1:10pm.
The additional service will join the existing service which flies daily from Dubai, departing at 2:40am and arriving at 9:50pm in Melbourne. From Melbourne, the flight departs at 9:15pm and is scheduled to arrive in Dubai at 5:15am the next day. All times are local. The addition of the second daily A380 service will also offer customers more convenience with the option of choosing a morning or evening flight, for optimal onwards connection opportunities when they stop in Dubai.
Before the pandemic, international flights brought more than 3.1 million visitors to Victoria each year and injected $8.8 billion into the economy. Emirates carried 22% of the 1.3 million passengers that arrived in Victoria from key European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which added $86 million to the Victorian economy in 2019.
Barry Brown, Emirates Divisional Vice President for Australasia said: “As an international airline that has been serving Australia for over 25 years, we are especially delighted to boost our services to Melbourne, adding yet more seats and flight options to the Victorian capital.
“Our second daily A380 service reaffirms our ongoing commitment to Australia and our loyal passengers as demand for international travel continues to increase,” Brown said.
“The newly expanded flight schedule also means our customers can experience three continents in one day, enjoying their breakfast in Australia, lunch in Dubai, and dinner in Europe.”
Emirates’ increasing operations
With Australia being the third-largest destination for Emirates’ A380 operations, the airline has been continuously committed to increasing flights to Australia which will soar to 42 weekly flights in May, with the airline’s flagship flying to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. From then Victoria and News South Wales capitals will be served by twice-daily flights and the Queensland capital once daily, operating on the iconic A380 aircraft.
Emirates also provides passenger services to Perth with the airline’s other wide-body aircraft in its fleet, the Boeing 777-300ER, which will operate daily from 1 May.