Emirates has inaugurated its second daily Sydney A380 service in a significant boost to inbound tourism.
Upgrading Emirates’ flights EK 414 and 415 to the Airbus A380-800 has increased capacity by 1,890 seats per week or 38 per cent; demonstrating Emirates’ commitment to New South Wales and delivering considerable economic benefits through inbound seats and travel connections.
According to a 2013 Deloitte report titled ‘The Economic Value of Sydney Airport,’ the benefits of an additional A380 between Dubai and Sydney would contribute an estimated AUD$342 million to Australia’s GDP, AUD$206 million to Australia’s household income and AUD$213 million to New South Wales’ GDP.
The report also notes that 4,400 jobs would be created as a result of the additional A380 service, including 2,800 in NSW, where currently as a group Emirates directly employs 1,420 people.
“As part of our commitment to Australians, our newest A380 service between Sydney and Dubai is also a key element of the growth of our Global Aviation Partnership with Qantas,” said Barry Brown, Emirates’ Vice President for Australasia.
“Adding larger capacity aircraft is central to our strategy of meeting growing passenger demand, while supporting trade and tourism between our two countries.
“Australia in particular represents a strong market for us, sitting in the top three regions in terms of revenue and passenger traffic, and we’re now looking ahead to the impending Brisbane A380 launch later this year,” he said.
Since flights to Melbourne commenced in 1996, Emirates’ footprint in Australia has created more than 3,500 jobs, carried over 16 million passengers and 350,000 tonnes of cargo, as well as invested more than AUD$85 million in Australian arts, community and sports sponsorships.
Sydney first joined the network in 2000 and received its first A380 service in February 2009 – just the third destination on Emirates’ expansive international network to receive the state of the art aircraft.
Emirates sets the pace for A380 deployment, with the aircraft having carried 14 million passengers on 35,000 trips, spanning 200 million kilometres since A380 operations commenced five years ago.
With 57 Airbus A380 aircraft on order, 33 currently in the fleet and a growing network of more than 20 A380-ready airports, Emirates is now working towards Brisbane joining this network in October 2013.