The daily service between Dubai and Alexandria in Egypt operated by an Airbus A330 is being axed from September 10 while a new daily route from Dubai to Durban which was set to start in December and be operated by an A330 has been deferred until further notice.
Emirates points out that its existing services to Egypt and South Africa will continue unchanged. The cancellation of the Durban route will be a blow to European travellers because there are few direct flight options. Emirates had timed this route launch to capitalise on the voluminous seasonal traffic flows between Europe and South Africa.
According to an Emirates” spokesman ”although demand to Durban was strong and the route well received, the high price of fuel has forced Emirates to evaluate its route operations ever more closely.”
In other news, late delivery of new ultra long-range planes from Boeing has forced Emirates to delay the introduction of flagship non-stop services linking Dubai with the US West Coast from this autumn.
A spokesperson for Emirates says it”s all down to the planes” galleys not being ready in time. ”This has impacted on the delivery times of our next four Boeing 777-200LR planes which we had intended to deploy on these routes. Affected passengers will be offered alternatives. The launch of Dubai to Los Angeles is being put back from September 1 to October 1 while Dubai-San Francisco, which was set to start on October 26, will now commence on November 20.”
These services, the first non-stop flights linking this region with the US West Coast, are expected to prove popular both with travellers from the Gulf and Middle East along with globetrotters using RTW (round-the-world) tickets.
Report by Alex McWhirter