Emirates Launches New Route To Miami
Originally published on AeroXplorer
The new route will be operated by the Boeing 777-300ER I. | Photo: Panteley Shmelev
On Thursday, Emirates announced a new route to Miami, which is set to begin this summer. This takes the number of cities served by Emirates in the United States up to 12, with over 70 weekly flights. Emirates' other destinations are Boston, Chicago, New York (EWR and JFK), Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, and Orlando. This new route will serve as an alternative to its Fort Lauderdale route, which ended in 2020, and can handle the bigger 777-300ER aircraft.
The new route will begin on July 22nd and will operate four times per week. The service will be operated by one of Emirates' three-class Boeing 777-300ER, offering eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class, and 304 seats in Economy Class. Emirates flight EK213 will depart Dubai (DXB) at 03:10hrs, arriving in Miami (MIA) at 11:00hrs. The return flight EK214 will depart Miami at 21:10hrs, arriving in Dubai at 19:35hrs the next day.
The new service will also add to the existing trade connections provided by Emirates SkyCargo, which is the freight division of Emirates. Emirates SkyCargo has been operating scheduled cargo flights to Miami since October 2020. The cargo carrier has been offering cargo capacity into and out of Miami, facilitating exports of electronics, perishables, and e-commerce goods. In the past, Emirates SkyCargo has operated several charter flights on its Boeing 777 full freighter aircraft to transport horses from Miami to equestrian events around the globe.
Miami will be the second destination in Florida, added by the Dubai-based carrier. Its route to Orlando was suspended during the pandemic but restarted in June. This route also operates four times a week, using a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft. Expansion in the United States goes alongside a wider growth in services and capacity for the airline. Emirates plans to return the Airbus A380 to 18 cities this summer (in 2019, it operated to 57 destinations across the globe). In the United States, this included New York (JFK), Washington, and Los Angeles. Overall the Dubai-based carrier hopes to return global capacity to 70% of pre-pandemic levels by the winter.
Emirates uses its fleet of B777-200LR, B777-300ER, and A380-800 for its long-haul flights. | Photo: Carter Petershagen
Adding Miami as well as Orlando opens up new markets in South Florida and offers many connections to other destinations. Previously Emirates served Fort Lauderdale with a four times a week service that operated from 2016 to 2020. Fort Lauderdale was chosen because of Emirates's partner JetBlue and the ability to offer customers connections across Latin America and the United States. While the route had an impressive 90% load factor in 2019, it offered lowered fares for the market. Miami will be a direct replacement for this. It is a larger market and can be served by the bigger Boeing 777-300ER, so economics may work out better for the airline.
