Less than nine months after launching services to Lyon, United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline is to slightly increase capacity to the city, one of three destinations it serves in the French market, after witnessing strong demand from passengers. With effect from February 1, 2014, Emirates will switch from a 258-seat Airbus A340-500 to a 266-seat Boeing 777-200LR on the five times weekly link, a 3.1 per cent increase in capacity.

Emirates launched the route to Lyon in December 2012 and has carried over 56,000 passengers to/from Dubai, boosting international tourism in Lyon from destinations in the Middle and Far East as well as Australia. The aircraft switch will result in an additional 40 seats a week in each direction but notably will see a reduction in First Class with capacity being cut by a third from 12 seats per rotation to just eight.

“The upgrade of our Lyon service to a Boeing 777 is a clear marker of the route’s success since its launch late last year, highlighting the strong growth potential of this destination,” said Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Commercial Operations Worldwide, Emirates Airline. “Prior to Emirates’ service, Lyon and its catchment area were significantly underserviced by international carriers. With this new direct service customers can now conveniently connect to ten points in India as well as a raft of destinations in the Far East, Indian Ocean and Australia.”

In the table below we highlight the main O&D markets for passengers travelling on this Emirates’ flight from/to Lyon during the first six months of operation (December 2012 – May 2013). The carrier is already carrying over 6,000 passengers a month on the route, exceeding the 9,000 passenger milestone in March 2013.

As our analysis shows, approximately 26.8 per cent of passengers are beginning or ending their journeys in Dubai, which actually isn’t the largest O&D pair, a position held by the Thai capital Bangkok, which accounted for 29.1 per cent of the passengers travelling to or from Lyon during the first six months of Emirates’ service. There are also notable passenger flows to the popular leisure destinations of Phuket, Thailand; Male, Maldives and Colombo, Sri Lanka.