Emirates has announced plans to deploy its Airbus A380 aircraft to two more destinations in the US – San Francisco and Houston.
The double-decker aircraft will start flying between Dubai and San Francisco from 1 December 2014, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER that currently operates this route. Then from 3 December 2014 the A380 will also replace the B777 on the Dubai-Houston route. The use of these new aircraft will represent a 38% increase in capacity on both routes, including an 80% expansion of premium seats.
“Emirates continues to see strong customer demand from our US gateways. Since 2007, we have carried over 2.3 million passengers on the San Francisco and Houston routes, and our flagship A380 will allow us to connect even more people [on these routes],” said Hubert Frach, Emirates’ divisional senior vice president of commercial operations. “Everywhere we fly our A380 we receive a tremendously positive customer response… [and] we look forward to bringing this experience to our customers in San Francisco and Houston.”
The Emirates service to San Francisco will operate daily, departing Dubai at 0850 and arriving at San Francisco International Airport at 1250 the same day. The return service will leave the Californian city at 1530, arriving back in Dubai at 1925 the following day.
The daily flight to Houston departs Dubai at 0930 and arrives in the Texas city 1605. The return leg takes off from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 1825 and lands in Dubai at 1905 the next day.
San Francisco and Houston will become the fourth and fifth US cities Emirates serves using its A380s, following New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas-Fort Worth, which is due to commence on 1 October 2014. They will also mark the 31st and 32nd A380 destinations in Emirates’ global network.
