United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline is to introduce a scheduled A380 service to Kuwait from July, marking the airline’s 25th anniversary of flights to the country. The Super Jumbo will replace a Boeing 777-200 on the carrier’s EK857/858 rotation with effect from July 16, 2014 establishing Kuwait as only the second market in the Middle East to be regularly served by the type after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Emirates initially introduced flights between Dubai International Airport and Kuwait International Airport on July 16, 1989 but now serves the route five times daily with a combination of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. It will utilise one of its 489-seat aircraft configured with 14 First Class Private Suites, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 399 seats in Economy Class, increasing capacity by 15.2 per cent.
“It is particularly fitting that we should introduce the A380 on our Kuwait route on the 25th anniversary of services,” said Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president, commercial operations centre, Emirates Airline. “It is underscores our commitment to the market, and we will continue to work hard to deliver a great experience for our customers, and value for their money.
“We have 47 A380s which we deploy all over the world from Los Angeles to Auckland, but the experience continues to generate excitement and fascination amongst our passengers and those who come to airports just to catch a glimpse of this magnificent aircraft,” he added.
Emirates currently operates alongside Kuwait Airways and low-cost carriers flydubai and Jazeera Airways in the Dubai – Kuwait market together operating around 19 daily flights offering almost 4,000 seats in each direction. With its multiple frequencies and widebody aircraft Emirates currently offers around a third of this capacity.
In the analysis below we look in greater detail at the O&D passenger demand between Dubai and Kuwait over the past ten years as frequencies on the city pair have almost trebled and capacity increased by 157.4 per cent.
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