Two cents is excellent value for that. To be honest, EK are still starting to fly to major cities across the world, but they can't go too far. For an airline further than Europe, BOS is too much, as would be LAS or PHI.

Haha, I'm happy with a Y ticket though, I'm 100% sure of an op-up since my last name starts with an A

I don't think thats an issue for them. Lets not forget the owners of Dubai own EK. So, aquiring land or apartment blocks (through many of their OWN real estate companies) will not be a problem and only a matter of time of sorting out the accomodations.

While I have been waiting for this announcement for the past 4 years, I am really disappointed at the timing of the flight?
Arriving at IAD at 0850 any day other the weekends is a nightmare, departing at 1055 (2 hrs ground time) is even worse, but won't compare to arriving at DXB at 0800 am. You can't connect to anything unless flying to other MENA destinations but even that will be a 6-7 hr layover... If O/D, then get stuck in the DXB morning traffic....

Anyone knows the reason behind this? Slot unavailability at IAD? Foothold till a better slot comes along, just to beat off EY into IAD??? A bit baffling,

IAD is not slot restricted. Why are the IAD times a nightmare? Do you mean in terms of traffic?

2 hours ground time should be plenty. NH's ground time at IAD is 1:40, and KE's is 2 hrs.

MCO over MIA? There is no comparison as to how much bigger a market MIA is long-haul, not to mention MIA is more premium heavy.

I doubt it that EK will consider it. I'm pretty sure if EK will done extremely very well. It will get more tougher competition against UA, EY, QR. It will fought the competitive. What's next? How about ATL, MIA, LAS, PHX? This could be next new route to be announced. I think ORD will be next sometime in the future but, not right now due to aircraft availability.

In my humble opinion this is the outlook:
Las Vegas - geographically speaking Dubai has a bad location; demand comes mainly from Japan/Korea; even for pax bound to Singapore and Macao/Hong Kong DXB is an unbearable detour

Phoenix - personally I don't have the slightest clue for which reason there should be traffic btw Phoenix and the markets Emirates serves (don't get me wrong: i would love to see the route but it is somehow unrealistic)

Denver - large airport due to the East-West connections within the US but low O&D traffic and almost no economical ties to ME/South/Southeast Asia

Orlando - Miami simply wins hands down

Miami - huge VFR traffic to India and beyond, onward connections to Latin America, large local demand, gateway to Florida, major tourism centre (in a positive sense)

Philadelphia/Boston - obviously there is a reason for EK to consider these markets but I can't figure out why...

Atlanta - huge connection potential, gateway to the Southern States including Texas, many business travellers

Detroit - "the secrete weapon" :D subtantial ME community, growing ties with Asia, recovery takes up pace, very limited competition (except from Royal Jordanian)

Chicago - no explanation required; will probably be the next destination to be announced (just my guess...^^)

Mod Note...
 

@ ung1 and @ blackmamba,

Please go beat each other up over in OMNI, not here. Remember, the thread title. Talking about PR or SQ or gambling or comparisons to Vegas has nothing to do with EK new routes and changes...

SIMON
(eightblack)
Moderator-EK Forum

I am aware of that, but EK's strategy has always been to go after niche markets before taking on larger ones. Tim Clark has said this a number of times. I was merely suggesting that a DXB-MIA-MCO-DXB flight, or similar, might be a consideration.

I think its slot availability/schedule congestion at Dubai, as Dubai's peak morning departures to the world from about 7am-10am is extremely busy to the point where the congestion is so much that flights are often delayed up to 30 mins or more to start up due to congestion at the airport. Also another problem at the moment is the number of gates available, EK has had to retake much of concourse 1 (the T1 gates) back in order to allow aircraft to have a gate. This of course is associated with airspace slots going through Iran, or Bahrain airspace as well. Therefore by moving the flight departure to the less peak time at DXB for departures and the second block of N. American flights, it still allows for many connections. EK knows what it is doing!

I'm with HB-IWC in that EK will announce ORD for a 2012 launch. I do realize that a July 6 start date may not happen, but still I'm willing to bet that it'll happen by December. Also MIA and BOS have always been high on EK's list, so these destinations will probably start in 2013.

Also the other reason EK is on such a big North American push at the moment and is conquering all these niche markets like SEA and DFW and hopefully soon to be MIA and BOS; that can only support one Middle Eastern carrier (at the moment!) is because of the delivery of QRs 787s happening this year. QR has been rumoured to be interested in starting BOS with its 787s, therefore EK will want to get into these markets before QR can get their 787s in!

So to conclude Adelaide and Chicago will PROBABLY be announced this year, Miami and Boston in 2013.

Maybe one of the insiders might share some information about the other continents e.g. the next 3 destinations in Africa/Europe/Asia/South America. Of course I am conscious of the fact that you can't just give us all the data, but maybe you could say something like two destinations in North East Asia to be announced and XXX is being considered for next year.

I am hearing the following:

Asia - Taipei and Denpasar
Africa - Kinshasa and Abuja
Europe - Brussels, Oslo and Stockholm

No news about South America. It may take a year or 2 before something is added there.

i am especially interested in taipei, i would have several roundtrips for employees in F and C for FRA-TPE per year, do you have any more details? the rumour is out for quite long but nobody from EK seems to be able to confirm ...

If Denpasar comes my money is that it will be a tag on from the 777 the sits in SIN for 12 hours.

Thanks for the fast reply! Of course I am still waiting for even more information ;). (see the rest of this post)

Taipei would definitely make sense given the lack of intense competition on routes to Europe. Denpasar will probably be added via Singapore right? Certainly a good option to use the long ground time at SIN. I am quite surprised that we don't see any additions to the China network. Personally I would love to see NKG, but from the company's perpective I would choose Chengdu first. Can anybody clarify on the plans for China please?

Kinshasa will be lucrative for obvious reasons, Abuja might also make sense, but with less than 7 flights per week initially. I am astonished not to see Algiers, Gaborone and Maputo on the list (especially Algiers is a MUST have for EK).

Brussels service needs to be launched soon, otherwise it might be too late when Etihad/Qatar will continue their expansion. Stockholm and Oslo also seem quite logical to me, but how about Kiev (was a rumour some time ago)?

Please add more information/other destinations you have heard off!