Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - New Emirates destinations in 2003, JFK/SFO on the list

Emirates has unveiled it's plan for 2003, including 5 new cities, 2 in the US.

New cities are:

Lagos (EK781/782, from 03.3.31)
-Opb 3-class A332 on Day 135.
-Day 5 service starts 03.7.28

Moscow (EK133/134, from 03.7.1)
-Opb 3-class A332 on Day 246

Shanghai (EK300/301, from 03.8.1)
-Opb 3-class A332 on Day 2467

New York (EK201/202, from 03.7.2)
-Opb 3-class A345 daily (Day 2 op. starts 03.10.5)
-EK201/202 DXB 0800 - 1400 JFK 2330 - 2020 DXB A340 (FJY)

San Francisco (EK225/226, from 03.10.1)
-opb 3-class A345 on Day 134567
-EK225/226 DXB 0815 - 1315 SFO 2045 - 2305 DXB A340 (FJY)

Others:
LHR EK005/006 upgraded to B777
-MAN upto double-daily
-CDG 4 additional weeklies
-FRA 2 of the morning flights upto B777
-MUC upto double-daily (2nd daily flt gets 332)
-IST upto 5x weekly
-SVO served 3x weekly
-JFK served daily
-SFO served 6x weekly
-PVG served 4x weekly
-BKK upto double-daily
-HKG (non-stop) upto 6x weekly (become 13 weekly)
-SIN/SYD upto daily
-DAC dedicated 5x weekly (no KHI stop-over) plus the 4x weekly onto KUL
-KHI upto 3x daily
-KRT upto 5x weekly
-MLA/TIP upto 4x weekly
-LOS served 4x weekly
-JED upto 6x weekly
-DMM upto 5x weekly plus a/c upgrade
-RUH change. in day of op
-DOH upto 3x daily
-MCT upto 2x daily
-SAH upto 5x weekly (service upgrades to 3 class service)
-CAI acft upgrade to 777 daily
-THR upto double-daily and a/c upgrade

All Information provided by "Emirates777" from Aviation Gulf Forum.

Any news on how they'll be configuring F and C on the A340-500s... new flat seats in C, for example?

news on justplanes.com:

23/01 - Big plans for Emirates in 2003!

Emirates plans to add 11 aircraft to its fleet in 2003. By 31Mar04 the airline will operate 56 planes. The airline has the following new routes and frequency increases coming this year :
Dubai to Brisbane = New route starts 26Oct03 via Singapore.
Dubai to Hong Kong = To become twice daily this year.
Dubai to Lagos = New route starts 01Dec03 subject to govt approval.
Dubai to Manchester = To become twice daily this year.
Dubai to Moscow = New route starts 01Jul03.
Dubai to Munich = To become twice daily this year.
Dubai to Muscat = To become twice daily this year.
Dubai to Shanghai = New route starts 02Aug03.
Dubai to Sydney = New route starts 26Oct03.
Dubai to Tehran = To become twice daily this year.

Wow ! there is nothing like seemingly unlimited government funding to enable this airline to expand.. where are the stops on the JFK and SFO routes ?

GK

JFK and SFO will be nonstop flights...it's on an A345!!

for more: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum139/HTML/000047.html

[This message has been edited by ngfan (edited 01-28-2003).]

one+ year later.
I guess it is still planned.

Will they do DXB-JFK over Atlantic, and the DXB-SFO over Atlantic as well, non-stop all the way?

The new A430-500's look really nice.

On 1st June, Emirates launches a new, non-stop service to New York providing the first direct air link between the Middle East and North America. The new non-stop service will dramatically reduce travelling times for business and leisure passengers between East Coast USA and the Lower Gulf and destinations beyond. Subject to government approval, flights will operate with the A340-500 in three-class configuration.

Malaysian has been flying DXB-EWR for at least 7-8 years. Also, El AL and other have been flying non stop from TLV to many North American cities. AC also flies nonstop from Tel Aviv to Toronto

EK201 DXB0800-1400JFK 345 Daily 01JUN04-30OCT04 14hrs 0mins

EK202 JFK2330-2020+1DXB 345 Daily 01JUN04-30OCT04 12hrs 50mins

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by swaghmar:
On 1st June, Emirates launches a new, non-stop service to New York providing the first direct air link between the Middle East and North America. The new non-stop service will dramatically reduce travelling times for business and leisure passengers between East Coast USA and the Lower Gulf and destinations beyond. Subject to government approval, flights will operate with the A340-500 in three-class configuration.</font>

Maybe EK means nonstop 1st nonstop between DXB and JFK.

MH has been flying the DXB-EWR route for about 5 years now using B777-200ERs with full traffic rights between the two cities. Flights originate and terminate at KUL.

An example of deceiving advertising. They totally ignore Malaysian Airlines nonstop service and do not consider Israel as being in the Middle East. El Al has been flying nonstop Tel Aviv to New York since over 20 years using 707s in those days. The route used to be advertised as "the longest nonstop flight in the world."

traffic to/from israel is categorized under 'europe'

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bretteee:
An example of deceiving advertising. They totally ignore Malaysian Airlines nonstop service and do not consider Israel as being in the Middle East. El Al has been flying nonstop Tel Aviv to New York since over 20 years using 707s in those days. The route used to be advertised as "the longest nonstop flight in the world."</font>

If Israel is in Europe, then Europe must be part of Asia.

It is correct that a few airlines like Air France used to include Israel as being part of Europe but because of this complete "stupidity" they are now including Israel as part of the Middle East, where it belongs.

... and Tel Aviv is considerably nearer the US than Dubai. So it is a longer flight.

Just a couple of other amendments i've picked up - from next month 4 flights a day out of LHR, and the planned double daily out of BHX using 330's seems to have been switched back to once a day, but using the 777's (yeah!)

Oh, also, if Israel isn't in Europe, how come they get into the eurovision song contest??

&gt;&gt; <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by GK:
... and Tel Aviv is considerably nearer the US than Dubai. So it is a longer flight.</font>&lt;&lt;

That is not the point. The ad stated that Emirates ........"offers the only nonstop from the Middle East to New York." It's completely incorrect. Though quite frankly I could not care a hoot.

In regards to "Dubai being considerably further to New York than Tel Aviv", I don't think that an extra 2 hours in the air makes Tel Aviv considerably closer ie 10 hours vs 12 hours.

&gt;&gt;Oh, also, if Israel isn't in Europe, how come they get into the eurovision song contest??[/B][/QUOTE]&gt;&gt;

I have no idea. Ask Eurovision why they allow Israel to participate. But if you look very carefully on a map, you will notice that Israel is in the Middle East, with Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt as it's neighbours and that the language spoken there is a Middle Eastern language and not a European one.

One can even go a step further. Egyptair offers nonstop service from Cairo to New York. Though 95% of Egypt is in Africa while the Sinaii is not in Africa, it is considered part of the Middle East.

The only truthful thing Emirates can say in view of El Al, Egyptair and Malaysian is that they are the first Gulf airline offering nonstop service from the Gulf to New York; anything else is nothing more than a "fib."

Not trying to make a storm out of a tea cup but I find their dishonesty amusing.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Swiss Tony:
Oh, also, if Israel isn't in Europe, how come they get into the eurovision song contest??</font>

Incase it wasn't clear, that comment was meant in jest http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

&gt;&gt; <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Swiss Tony:
Incase it wasn't clear, that comment was meant in jest http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>&gt;&gt;

To be honest with you, you made an excellent point about the Euro song contest. I never understood why they participate.

And last year, some Swedish and Belgian TV comentators made some pretty unpleasant political comments about it.

Lastly, I just remembered that Saudia also offer nonstops to JFK and Washington DC.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Originally posted by Bretteee:
&gt;&gt;Oh, also, if Israel isn't in Europe, how come they get into the eurovision song contest</font>

And Israel is also part of UEFA in soccer, not like its neighbours

&gt;&gt; <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rankourabu:
And Israel is also part of UEFA in soccer, not like its neighbours</font>&gt;&gt;

Good point. Can't argue with that one. However not sure whether soccer is played in Egtpt etc. I know basketball is but not sure about soccer.

brettee, check before you type... the north africans and middle east countries are pretty good at soccer... the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and Tunesia have a good record and have appeared in the last few world cups, whereas Israel has not made it because it tries to qualify with the UEFA groups... it would do far better if it would join the African or Asian groups, but then there would be war on the pitch in no time...

Regards Oliver

PS EK is the sponsor for the Soccer worldcup 2006

&lt;&lt;[QUOTE]Originally posted by oliver2002:
[B]brettee, check before you type... &gt;&gt;

Oliver, I said ....."I was not sure whether soccer is popular" in Egypt. My uncle was the coach of the Egyptian basketball team in the 1940's / 1950's so I know for sure that basketball is popular in Egypt.

Though I am a former Egyptian national I do not keep up with Egyptian sports. That's why I said "not sure." However next time I type anything about the Arab countries I will do as you suggested. I will check to make sure everything is correct.

Thank you.

Looks like we got off-topic a bit, but it seems offical the NYT had this in today paper: DXB-JFK and JFK-DXB

In the latest sign that international business travel has picked up sharply, and that premium-class travel is increasing on long flights, Emirates said it would begin daily nonstop service between New York and Dubai on June 1. Emirates, based in Dubai, said the route would be flown with ultra-long-haul Airbus A340-500 jets configured with 12 seats in first class, 42 in business and 204 in economy.

The New York-Dubai flights will depart from Terminal 4, which opened in May 2001 at Kennedy International Airport. Emirates is building a 12,000-square-foot lounge for first- and business-class passengers at Terminal 4, where it also plans to begin service with superjumbo A380 aircraft in 2006, when Emirates expects to receive the first of the 45 double-deck A380's it has ordered from Airbus.


-I did not know there was space to build such a large lounge at T4 JFK.
-the Emirates A340-500 are the ones the that enclosed First Class pod cabin thing, right?

Yes, that is the new F suite on the A 345.

No, the 'closed-pod thing' is the Business Class seat on the A345. First Class has the individual suites with sliding doors, individual minibar, vanity kit in table, and the amazing 700 channel IFE system in all classes!

Oh forgot to mention the wonderful 'stars' on the ceiling of F/J cabins.

See http://www.emirates.com

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bretteee:
The only truthful thing Emirates can say in view of El Al, Egyptair and Malaysian is that they are the first Gulf airline offering nonstop service from the Gulf to New York; anything else is nothing more than a "fib."

Not trying to make a storm out of a tea cup but I find their dishonesty amusing. </font>

They can't even say that.....Gulf Air offered nonstop Bahrain-JFK as early as 1995 with their A340-300s. The a/c sometimes continued to Houston.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bretteee:
If Israel is in Europe, then Europe must be part of Asia.

It is correct that a few airlines like Air France used to include Israel as being part of Europe but because of this complete "stupidity" they are now including Israel as part of the Middle East, where it belongs.

</font>

Did you not know that Europe is Asia's oversized western peninsula? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

On a serious note, I was always amazed the Israel would be lumped into Europe for award purposes but Lebanon (which is closer to Europe) was not.

&lt;&lt;On a serious note, I was always amazed the Israel would be lumped into Europe for award purposes but Lebanon (which is closer to Europe) was not.&lt;&lt;

Yes for years, it was great when British Airways and American included Israel in Europe for Awards. Needed very few miles for a free ticket.

Unfortunately they just realised what a bargain many people were taking advantage of; now abrakadabra; Israel is in the Middle East.

&gt;&gt; <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BahrainLad:
They can't even say that.....Gulf Air offered nonstop Bahrain-JFK as early as 1995 with their A340-300s. The a/c sometimes continued to Houston.</font>&gt;&gt;

I had no idea Gulf air flew to the USA. In the 70's TWA flew a 707 from New York to Bahrain via Cairo and the route was a flop. They got out within a year. A friend told me they averaged about 40 passengers to Bahrain.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by STAM4NICK:
Looks like we got off-topic a bit, but it seems offical the NYT had this in today paper: DXB-JFK and JFK-DXB

In the latest sign that international business travel has picked up sharply, and that premium-class travel is increasing on long flights, Emirates said it would begin daily nonstop service between New York and Dubai on June 1....
</font>

This could be good news depending on the departure times. However, there is no trace of this news on the Emirates website - they dont have a US website (only a Global site unlike the other countries they serve). And, if you try to book, there is no JFK.

Looking for an easy way to fly to HYD where I fly once in a while- this will give me a one-hop trip from JFK. Hopefully, the layover is not too long.


------------------
gt0138d - a certified George P Burdell clone...

&lt;&lt; However, there is no trace of this news on the Emirates website - they dont have a US website (only a Global site unlike the other countries they serve). And, if you try to book, there is no JFK.&gt;&gt;

Emirates are advertising in the US media but do not mention the new service. However they are advertising for staff at JFK; so obviously something is cooking.