Emirates has taken the final step in the restoration of its Australia capacity announcing its return to Adelaide. A daily service will relaunch between the South Australia capital and the airline’s Dubai hub on 28 October 2024.
The reinstated service will facilitate the growing travel demand to and from South Australia and allow passengers to travel conveniently between more than 140 destinations across Emirates’ global network, offering a wide range of choice, flexibility, and connectivity.
Emirates first launched its Adelaide services in 2012 and carried more than 165,000 passengers between Dubai and Adelaide in 2019. By 1 December, when Emirates also reinstates its second daily service to Perth, the airline will offer 77 weekly flights from Australia with the ability to transport 68,000 passengers per week to and from Australia, returning to its pre-pandemic capacity.
Emirates’ return is a major milestone for South Australia’s pandemic recovery. The tourism expenditure of daily direct non-stop Emirates’ flights is estimated by South Australian Tourism Commission to generate more than $62 million per year and create in excess of 315 full-time equivalent tourism-related jobs for South Australians. Each flight will also offer 14 tonnes of cargo space, totalling 196 tonnes weekly between Dubai and Adelaide. The value of freight exports is estimated to be $98 million per year, bringing the total estimated expenditure generated by Emirates’ flights to Adelaide to $160 million.
South Australia Premier, Peter Malinauskas, says, “Reinstating Emirates flights to Adelaide has been a key priority for the State Government. Emirates once again flying daily direct into Adelaide will further drive South Australia’s economic growth – set to deliver an estimated $160 million in tourism expenditure and freight exports and create more than 315 full-time tourism-related jobs for South Australians.
“The Emirates service has been very much missed by South Australians – recommencing daily flights will make Adelaide easier to reach from key long-haul markets and make doing business with our state easier.”
South Australian Minister for Tourism, Zoe Bettison, says, “This is a major recovery milestone for our state’s tourism industry, providing a crucial link into South Australia’s traditionally strong European markets, as well as the UK, Middle East, India, and the east coast of the US.
“The reinstatement of direct daily Emirates flights into Adelaide is expected to generate more than $62 million in tourism expenditure alone – a major boost to our state’s visitor economy.
“It is exciting that South Australia will once again feature in Emirates’ global marketing programs, getting more eyes around the world on SA and helping drive an increase in visitors to our state.”
Barry Brown, Divisional Vice President Australasia at Emirates,says, “The return of Emirates to Adelaide has been highly anticipated by passengers and industry for some time.
We are equally as excited to again service South Australia and provide the state with opportunities across leisure, culture and tourism and support trade growth opportunities through our connection to Dubai and onwards to destinations worldwide.
“The return of our Adelaide service completes our current footprint in Australia serving five points across the country. With special thanks to our partners at the South Australian Tourism Commission and Adelaide Airport, we could not be prouder to be fulfilling Emirates’ commitment to Australia. We’re already looking ahead to welcoming our first passengers from Adelaide on board in October.”
Adelaide Airport Managing Director, Brenton Cox, says, “This is great news for our customers who will once again benefit from Emirates’ extensive global network via Dubai. It offers greater competition and choice for travellers, including through Emirates’ code-sharing arrangement with Qantas, connecting through the Middle East to Europe and Africa. Equally it creates significant tourism and wider economic opportunities in attracting international visitors to Adelaide.
“We’re delighted that Emirates will immediately return to daily services – the same as pre-COVID frequencies – which is a real sign of confidence in the Adelaide market. The widebody Boeing 777-200LR aircraft also creates improved air freight export opportunities for our local producers to Middle Eastern and European markets.”
Fly Better with Emirates from Adelaide
Operating daily on the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft with 38 Business Class seats alongside 264 seats in Economy Class, the Adelaide service will offer 302 seats per flight and over 4,200 weekly seats between Dubai and Adelaide. Emirates Business Class on the Adelaide service will feature a 2-2-2 configuration.
Emirates’ EK440 will depart from Dubai at 02:00hrs and arrive in Adelaide at 20:50hrs. Emirates’ return flight EK441 will depart from Adelaide at 22:35hrs and arrive in Dubai at 05:15hrs. All times are local.
With Emirates’ extensive network of more than 140 destinations around the world, the relaunch of the Emirates Dubai-Adelaide service provides a vital link to South Australia’s traditionally strong European markets, as well as the United Kingdom, Middle East, India, and the east coast of the United States.
The flight schedule connects passengers with Emirates’ prime European arrival and departure times offering a seamless travel experience and optimal connections of less than four hours.
With Dubai being a key global connection point, travellers are expected to venture from Adelaide to London, Rome, Dubai, Paris, Amsterdam, Manchester, Athens, Dublin, Barcelona, and Milan. Top inbound are expected to be London, Manchester, Dubai, Birmingham, Paris, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf.
Travellers flying to and from Australia with Emirates can enjoy the best experience in the sky with an unmatched culinary experience, regionally inspired multi-course menus developed by a team of award-winning chefs complemented by a wide selection of premium beverages. Customers can also sit back and relax with up to 6,500 channels of carefully curated global entertainment content featuring movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, games, audiobooks and more with ice, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system.
Passengers flying First Class with Emirates out of the airline’s four other Australian ports also have the opportunity to enjoy Penfolds RWT Shiraz sourced from Barossa Valley, a renowned wine-producing region northeast of Adelaide. Penfolds’ iconic RWT shows the maximum expression of Barossa shiraz. The initials are ‘Red Winemaking Trial’, a 1995 project led by Peter Gago, who sought to explore alternative winemaking techniques to produce an exceptional shiraz. Today either the 2011, the 2012 or both vintages can be found Emirates’ selection.
Emirates currently serves Australia with 63 weekly flights to Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, operated by a mix of A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft transporting 56,000 passengers per week to and from these major cities. The airline has recently announced doubling its Premium Economy offering on flights to Melbourne which started on 1 February, adding to the two daily four-class A380 services to Sydney. From 1 October, Emirates will upgauge its second service between Dubai and Brisbane to an A380, creating an all A380 operation from Brisbane. From 1 December, Emirates will reinstate its second Perth service on a Boeing 777-300ER, joining the existing A380 service.
Tickets can be purchased on www.emirates.com, Emirates Sales Offices, or via online and offline travel agents.
