Emirates

Emirates has officially released details of its second daily flight to Shanghai flown nonstop from Dubai. This new flight will see an A 343 used 6 times a week and an A 332 used once a week in addition to the already existing daily B 773ER nonstop service.

Flight timing of the new flight is as follows :

EK 304 Dep DXB 1035 Arr PVG 2225
EK 305 Dep PVG 0615+1 Arr DXB 1250

Various media outlets are reporting that Boeing is close to finalizing a deal with Emirates for 20 Boeing 747-800s (passenger version) and an announcement concerning this is expected to be made in November during the Dubai Air Show. EK already has 10 B 748 freighters on order with Boeing. The only other airline to have ordered the B 748 passenger version is Lufthansa who ordered 20 of the type this spring.

Analysis :

In the past, EK had already indicated for its preference of using this aircraft initially for daily nonstop DXB-LAX flights as it felt it could fill up a 400 seater B 748 easily on this route year round. If the order goes ahead, other cities likely to receive the B 748 nonstop from DXB in the future include ORD, JFK, JNB & MEL.