Emirates starts A380 Washington DC flights and ramps up Amsterdam

Emirates starts A380 flights to Washington DC and flies its superjumbo twice daily to Amsterdam today – signalling its ambitions to scoop up more east-west transfer business.

The superjumbo operating to the United States capital replaces a B777-300ER although the timings remain unchanged. EK231 departs Dubai 0220 and arrives in Washington 0815, with EK232 departing 1015 and arriving in Dubai 0800 the next day. Its second A380 Amsterdam flight, taking off from Dubai at 1515, will operate as EK149/150 and also replaces a B777-300ER.

The airline has wasted no time capitalising on the gaps left by United Airlines’ and Delta’s recent withdrawal on the Dubai-Washington route – but is unlikely to quell the ongoing subsidy claims from US carriers, a charge which the Dubai airline has repeatedly denied. On the Dubai-Amsterdam route, it still has competition from KLM’s B787-9 Dreamliner.

The capacity increases on both routes mirrors a wider frequency push which will see it ramp up Los Angeles to double-daily A380s from July 1 and its second daily A380 Perth flight will start on August 1.

Furthermore, it frees up the Boeing widebodies for other routes, as evidenced by Dubai-Lusaka-Harare being upgraded from an A340-300 to a three-class B777-300ER from today, and Dubai-Colombo will rise to five flights daily from August 1.

From March 1 it will start a new non-stop route between Dubai and Auckland on three-class B777-200LRs.