Emirates Airline is to introduce a second daily flight between Dubai International and Venice Marco Polo Airport next year. The additional rotation will be operated by an Airbus A340-300 and will be introduced from the start of the Northern Summer schedules on March 25, 2012. The airline’s existing flight on the route is also operated using A340-300 equipment.
The Dubai-based carrier also serves Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino in Italy with double daily services already being offered to both destinations. An estimated 337,000 O&D passengers travelled between Dubai International and Italy in the past year, up 19.0 per cent on the previous 12 month period. As the sole carrier providing direct flights, Emirates is unsurprisingly the dominant carrier with its five daily flights giving it a 75.3 per cent share of the traffic.
Earlier this month the carrier introduced the A380 onto the Rome route. “Operating the A380 out of Rome allows passengers in Italy to enjoy the Emirates’ superjumbo experience all the way to key markets such as Australia, China and Thailand, via our much-admired hub in Dubai, while boosting tourism into Italy,” said Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation, Emirates Airline.
The point-to-point demand between Dubai International and Venice Marco Polo in the past year was estimated to be around 60,000 O&D passengers, with Emirates holding an 86 per cent share. However, the wider market for Emirates beyond its Dubai hub is likely to treble or quadruple this figure to between 150,000 and 200,000 passengers per year on the route.
Emirates started flights to Italy in 1992 and the current 35 weekly frequencies contribute to a vibrant US$ 4.6 billion trade relationship between Italy and the UAE, assisted by Emirates SkyCargo ferrying commodities in and out of Italy through Dubai and beyond. The Italian market is not the sole European country to see more frequencies from Emirates during 2012 though.
As reported last week, the airline will also offer an additional five weekly flights between Dubai and Paris CDG increasing from 14 to 18 weekly services from March 25, 2012 and the introduction of a 19th weekly rotation from October 28, 2012. The airline currently has a 56 per cent share of 288,000 O&D traffic between Dubai and Paris CDG, a route also served by Air France on a daily basis using an A380. Emirates also uses an A380 on one of its daily services with the rest of the flights, including the new rotations, being flown by 777-300ERs.
Emirates is also planning some capacity changes on some of its other routes during 2012 with a number being upgraded to three-class Boeing 777-300ERs (all configured with premium suites) as new aircraft are delivered. Other notable changes include the upgrade of all its double daily Dubai – Jeddah flights to the A380-800 from March 25, 2012 as the two remaining A340-300 services are upgraded to the ‘Super Jumbo’ and an aircraft switch on its new daily flight to Dublin, to be launched next year, from an A330-200 to an A340-300 from October 28, 2012
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