Some bad news for Australians hoping to experience flying in an Airbus A380: Emirates, the biggest operator of these planes, is scaling back its services from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, replacing the superjumbos with Boeing 777 aircraft.
As reported by Australian Business Traveller, this will effect people at the pointy end (or, in the case of the A380, the top deck) who won’t get the latest first-class seating or the use of a bar.
I’ve flown in to Sydney on an Emirates A380 and the business class section was less than half full. That was good for me, however, as I spent the entire time in the bar, except when they made me eat and belt up for landing.
The service was wonderful, and I spent hours talking to crew members from all parts of the world who took their turn behind the bar. (To be honest, I was more comfortable there than I was in the business-class seat, which, to me, compared poorly with similar offerings on Etihad, Cathay Pacific and Oman Air.)
It’s would seem that the change to a smaller aircraft means that Emirates is having trouble filling seats on its Dubai flights — and, in particular, in filling premium seats.
Given that Qantas is no longer flying its A380 via Dubai, having rerouted QF1 to go to Europe via Singapore, does this suggest lower overall demand for travel between Australia and the United Arab Emirates?
And if that’s the case, that can only fuel speculation about a merger between Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad (which has been on the cards for some time but has been hindered by internal UAE politics). But does it bring in to question the long-term future of Dubai as a global travel hub?
Qantas, which still code-shares with Emirates, is determined to find a way to get Australians to Europe in one big leap, having already introduced non-stop flights from Perth.
When it’s possible to fly direct to London from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, only those who passengers really want to travel to the Middle East will be stopping off in, or even transiting through, Dubai.
However, Australia is a relatively small market. Both Etihad and Emirates are doing well with their flights to European and Asian destinations. Between them, the provide more a dozen daily services to Thailand alone.
