Emirates Adds Third Daily Rotation to Birmingham

United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier Emirates Airline is to introduce a third daily rotation on its route between Dubai International Airport and Birmingham Airport in the UK. The new flight, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER will commence from August 1, 2015, and opened for reservations earlier today (December 22, 2015).

Here's the new flight schedule for Emirates on the Dubai - Birmingham route from August next year, as first revealed by our blog, Airline Route...

DUBAI - BIRMINGHAM
EK041 DXB0235 – 0705BHX 77W D
EK039 DXB0805 – 1235BHX 77W D
EK037 DXB1505 – 1935BHX 77W D

BIRMINGHAM - DUBAI
EK042 BHX0910 – 1910DXB 77W D
EK040 BHX1415 – 0015+1DXB 77W D
EK038 BHX2120 – 0715+1DXB 77W D

The new third daily rotation, EK041/042 will operate overnight from Dubai and arrive in Birmingham in the morning, permiting a new mid-morning, daytime departure from the UK city.

“Stepping up our presence in Birmingham will give customers across our network and across the Midlands, greater flexibility in their travel plans. This is another significant investment in the UK market and we look forward to offering further choice and excellent value for money to travellers and businesses, including the cargo community,” said Hubert Frach, divisional senior vice president, commercial operations west, Emirates Airline.

The additional flight will be operated by a three-class 777-300ER with a First Class offering, the first time such a service has been made available to passengers from Birmingham.

“As part of our continued commitment, we’re excited to become the only airline offering First Class to the region, with the introduction of our acclaimed First Class Private Suites,” added Frach.

Emirates started flying to Birmingham in December 2000 when it launched the route with a daily non-stop service, operated by a 278-seat Airbus A330-200. In the 14 years since, Emirates has carried over 4.9 million passengers to and from Birmingham.

“Emirates’ decision to add a third daily service to Dubai and beyond from Birmingham Airport clearly shows the strong demand that exists in the city and the region for passengers who want connectivity to Dubai, Asia and Australia," said Paul Kehoe, chief executive officer, Birmingham Airport.

The additional rotation introduces eight Private Suites in First Class to the offering on the Dubai - Birmingham city pair as well as 42 additional Business Class seats and 310 Economy Class seats per day in each direction, as well as 23 tonnes of additional cargo capacity per flight. Popular commodities on this route include; seafood, clothing, vehicle parts and foodstuffs.

Our analysis of passenger demand on the Dubai – Birmingham route shows that an around 500,000 passengers flew on between the cities during the 12 month period (November 2013 – October 2014), suggesting average loads in excess of 87 per cent on the Emirates service. An estimated 30.4 per cent of these passengers were utilising it for point-to-point travel, with the remaining connecting to or from other points across the globe.

The data shows that alongside the local traffic, the top ten most popular points for travellers utilising the route were between Birmingham and Islamabad, Bangkok, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Perth, Delhi, Dhaka, Cochin, Sydney and Kuala Lumpur.

In our chart, below, we look at the amazing growth of Emirates in the UK market by highlighting its annual capacity to the country over the past ten years. Through new destinations, most recently Newcastle, additional frequencies and the deployment of larger aircraft, most notably the Airbus A380 on multiple daily frequencies to London Heathrow, the carrier has grown UK capacity by 89.4 per cent between 2005 and 2014, an average annual rise of 9.9 per cent.

Data provided by OAG

Richard Maslen

Richard Maslen has travelled across the globe to report on developments in the aviation sector as airlines and airports have continued to evolve and…