mitchmagi

Does anyone have any insight as to why Emirates will be using their ancient A340-300 aircraft from March onwards for the CPT - DBX route ??

There is clearly sufficient demand on the route as they offer 2 x daily flights in 2013.

Emirates previously used the 777 on alternating days with the new angled lie-flat business seating and suites in First.

The A340-300 have OLD seating in both First & Business which is no longer up to modern standards.

They are going to have lots of unhappy campers on their hands ;-(

sts603

How do you know? There may be people willing to fill the seats, but not profitably.

As for why CPT gets older aircraft - unlike LHR, FRA, CDG, etc. CPT does not have competition to DXB on the route with the national flag carrier. Thus they have to allocate old aircraft somewhere, better to do it where it wouldn't risk costing pax to the competition.

mitchmagi

"They are going to have lots of unhappy campers on their hands ;-( "

Local advertising has been very big on punting the angled lie-flat seating / first class suites etc. of the 777 ( they used to alternate between 777 and 340 depending on the day of the week )

The product has been fairly well established over the last 2 years ... and to now suddenly pull it from service completely ( yet charge the same price ) is not going to endear themselves.

The demand is clearly present for the service out of CPT - otherwise EK would not have resumed the 2nd daily flight. I'm surprised they didn't instead use the older aircraft on the smaller Durban market which only offers a single flight a day - and on which EK effectively has the market seeing that no other major carrier flies internationally out of Durban.

With most pax simply using Dubai as a transit point - customers out of CPT do have alternative carriers from which to choose ... and those paying a premium for J - expect a premium product.

Basil B

Presume the real problem is down to the shortage of aircraft due to the late delivery of the A380's

EK77W

And don't forget summer in Europe, USA etc. means winter in South Africa and therefore demand is lower. I expect EK will to fly daily B77W and daily A345 to CPT during winter 2013/2014.

Tim(HAM)

I agree with EK77W. Premium loads weren't good enough this summer (southern winter), hence the complete withdrawal of the second daily flight during September.

Saying good enough doesn't mean there is no Premium demand. It's just one of the routes with less demand compared to others, given the general shortage of new planes with Emirates.
Same happens all over the network (e.g. HAM had an A330-200 with the oldest product for the nighttime flight during August). Even airports like CDG and FRA are getting the old product every now and then due to operational changes. There are a lot of factors influencing EKs aircraft dispatch (demand for premium seats/product, yield, required cargo capacity on that route,...).

OT quite interesting it is a rather long flight (9.5 h) for using an B777-300ER without crew rest (same accounts for PER) -> 310 seats in Y while using the version with 304 seats or the 777-200LR on shorter flights to Europe.

Chris Gilmour

I cannot fathom EK's attitude to equipment on its SA routes. Back in mid-March I flew Business Class on Emirates to DXB and thence to IST. Although it was a 777ER, you had to see the dinosaur seating to believe it! I had become used to the (almost) lie-flat bed in Business Class and found it to be excellent. But this old equipment was beyond the pale. It was like the old business class seating that BA had in operation before the cradle seat! Tired old fabric and when I put it into recline, my neighbour's seating started ticking away like mad. Totally unacceptable. To an extent EK redeemed themselves on the journey back a few days later on the A380. Now THAT is business Class seating of a different order. It's as good as BA First and I had an excellent sleep. I can't understand why EK skimps on certain routes, especially extremely high volume routes such as Dubai-SA. It's not as if making money is the primary motivation for its existence after all.

jcowle

Is this still the case now, I am flying to CPT next sunday?

Regards
JOHN

mitchmagi

Yes - the aircraft is the ancient airbus A340-300 featuring business class from the stone age.

These aircraft were meant to have been scrapped from the fleet - but are still doing service!

Ahmed777

http://info.flightmapper.net/flight/Emirates_EK_772

Yes - according to this website they are still A343/A345. Unfortunately for EK...

Thank god DUR seems "stable" and the 77W stays put.

Ahmed777

I think its because Airbus is behind on the A380 deliveries as well as the wing cracking saga that they are forced to keep these planes in the fleet.

m3red

I m flying cpt to dxb in August 10th and it looked busy in j...really hoping for a change of plane...

Any hope?

Ahmed777

What does it say in MMB? Seems interesting as to how long this will last. Also - off topic - does anyone know when the A380 will return to JNB? Its been quite a while now!

jcowle

Many thanks for all the reply's, looks like I will have to put up with the old plane, I am in F, is that any better?

JOHN

Ahmed777

Oh no.. SkyCruisers.. Personally, I hate them, but others find them quite alright. They definitely don't compare to the suites on the A380's but are adequate enough.