Emirates boosts Brisbane flights with new Dubai service

By Chris C., May 12 2017
Emirates boosts Brisbane flights with new Dubai service

Emirates is ramping up its Dubai-Brisbane flights with a third daily service commencing on December 1 2017, complementing the airline’s existing Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 flights to the Queensland capital.

Using a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, high flyers can relax in one of eight first class suites, each with closing doors for privacy and a (room temperature) mini bar:

AusBT review: Emirates Boeing 777 first class

Business class sits just behind with 42 angled-flat beds in a 2-3-2 configuration…

… with the flights running non-stop between Brisbane and Dubai and allowing easy connections from there onwards to the UK, Croatia and the USA.

“We are thrilled to announce our third daily Brisbane service which highlights our continued commitment to the Brisbane region,” said Barry Brown, Emirates’ Divisional Vice President for Australasia.

“As a major international gateway to the Gold Coast, the additional Brisbane service will provide travellers greater access to Queensland ahead of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.”

Flight EK430 will depart Dubai at 10pm local time, arriving in Brisbane at 6:15pm the following evening – with EK431 wheels-up from Brisbane at 10:25pm to reach Dubai at 7am the next morning.

Emirates also provides a daily non-stop Airbus A380 service between Brisbane and Dubai, along with an also-daily Boeing 777-300ER flight from Brisbane to Singapore and then onwards to Dubai.

In addition, the airline runs a daily Airbus A380 jaunt from the Queensland capital to Auckland and back – and on all flights departing Brisbane, business class and first class passengers plus top-tier frequent flyers can board their flight direct from Emirates’ Brisbane Airport lounge, without stepping foot back in the terminal.

Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn status credits by booking their Emirates journey on a QF flight number, in addition to the frequent flyer points offered when travelling on both QF and EK flight codes.

Melbourne travellers are also in for an upgrade with all Emirates flights switching to Airbus A380s as of March 25 2018.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

06 Nov 2014

Total posts 357

Another angled lie flat at 2-3-2. If they'll boost a third flight a day, clearly the demand is there in BNE, why don't they offer a second daily A380?

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

12 Dec 2013

Total posts 15

They are trying to increase connection options and meet different departure banks to spreed demand of different Europe bound banks. 

10 Aug 2015

Total posts 122

BNE may not have enough A380 gates. EK435 is their at the same time.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

09 Feb 2015

Total posts 388

Brisbane has 2 A380 gates with (with direct access from the EK lounge to aircraft) with 2 more gates getting constructed as part of the terminal expansion which is due for completion in Dec 17.

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

10 Jan 2012

Total posts 258

I'd just like to see 433/432 upgauged to an A380.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

25 May 2012

Total posts 580

It's unlikely they'd keep the Singapore stopover for EK433/EK432 if they upgaged it to an A380, so adding a 3rd daily flight using a 777 gives them added flexibility with this service.

24 Apr 2012

Total posts 2431

Peter: Emirates upgraded its Melbourne-Singapore-Dubai flight to an A380 in March last year and also upgraded Sydney-Bangkok-Dubai to an A380 in October, both of which still retain the Asia stopover, so there's nothing to suggest that Brisbane-Singapore would be axed should Emirates bring more A380s to Brisbane.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

25 May 2012

Total posts 580

Intriguing... I wasn't aware they had upgraded Melbourne-Singapore and Sydney-Bangkok to A380 services. It seems like there's plenty of capacity between Brisbane and Singapore though.


I'd certainly welcome an EK A380 service to Singapore.

20 May 2014

Total posts 79

'easy connections onward to the UK, Croatia, and the USA.' 

Sweet!  The big 3!

10 Aug 2015

Total posts 122

What a great week for BNE!

16 May 2016

Total posts 5

This service is about compromising Gold Coast for Brisbane. EK has been looking at OOL for many years with 5 weekly services. It could be that the bean counters came up with an analysis that sticking to BNE for an additional flight will cost less (lounge/staff/catering contracts/crew base already there) and revenue more.


Having 2 departures ex-BNE within 90 minutes and a 3rd just 4 hours later hardly sounds like this is geared for onward connections from DXB. 

If this service does not pick up additional demand then expect to see the A380 swapped with a 77W.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

09 Feb 2015

Total posts 388

I cannot see Emirates dropping the A380. There is more chance they would cancel the new 777 service if it doesn't work. But in saying that, I'm sure they have done the numbers and know the state of play. I'm not aware of any reductions in the past from EK in the Australian market.

Etihad - Etihad Guest

06 Apr 2012

Total posts 125

You also need to keep in mind that BNE is a hub with much more 'feed in' traffic from domestic Qantas services to connect with the Emirates flight.

Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer

02 Sep 2014

Total posts 17

Gold Coast could have tapped into regional NSW (Byron, Lismore, etc).  Whether they fly down to Sydney and connect on a flight or go up to Brisbane on land is almost the same thing. The Gold Coast flight could have captured that traffic instead. 

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

17 Aug 2016

Total posts 23

Just remember all flight and cabin crew for emirates are based in Dubai it is part of the contract! Almost staff on the ground are contractors except for a few

16 May 2016

Total posts 5

I forgot to mention- the only additional demand this flight is addressing is the EK flights that arrive into DXB from mid afternoon till about 8pm which covers a whole heap of regions/destinations (US/EU/Africa/Middle/Near East). To gloat about the return service as addressing demand to the US/UK/Croatia is poor form of marketing given EK434 arrives in time for them as well.

19 Feb 2016

Total posts 7

I would have thought followed along the lines of Melbourne/Sydney with an early AM departure so as to give a variety of departure options and connections.
Great to have more flights to Brisbane indeed though !

Angled flat bed in business?  Yeah no thank you.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

24 Jun 2015

Total posts 3

This is such good news! Another flight to Brisbane for me to crew. Definitely a boost for Brisbane! 

12 May 2017

Total posts 5

Where is ETIHAD in all this with there packed like sardines single flight per day out of Brisbane ?

Air New Zealand - Airpoints

12 Feb 2016

Total posts 21

Emirates seem to be doing very well, so who am I to criticise, but to me their scheduling seems daft.  They have four A380 flights a day between Auckland and Dubai (one of which provides the BNE-DXB A380 service) but they are all in the same time slot so there is no benefit for the traveller from having multiple flights.  It looks like they are doing the same with the Brisbane flights.  So they are adding capacity but not improving frequency.  It very much seems that efficiency in minimising ground staff is considered more important than any potential revenue from improved connections.

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

11 Mar 2015

Total posts 190

still an inferior product for business class-how incompetent the management is at Emirates that they cannot see how bad is this product???Even with the new fleet of the 777 the outlay will be the same-anybody with a sane mind will look for a better price and book with rivals like Etihad and Qatar-Ek is a big looser as far as their 777 fleet business product is concerned

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

18 Feb 2015

Total posts 124

This is my point, I dont know why people fly Emirates... their product is average all round and yet people flock to them like bees to honey

16 Feb 2016

Total posts 30

I would have loved to have seen a 4pw to OOL combined with a 3pw to CBR.  The 77L probably would have suited this better and provided them with better access to the leisure market ex OOL and added in another port.  Interesting they have departures now ex BNE every 2hrs...  doesn't really provide that much choice

16 Feb 2016

Total posts 30

or actually, better still, DXB-OOL-CBR-DXB daily.  That would provide a direct flight for the inbound leisure traffic, and allow the aircraft to operate ex OOL to pickup more pax in CBR before curfew and give CBR premium pax a direct option.   Something like  DXB 2030/1800 OOL 1930/2215 CBR 2345 DXB.   Perhaps this is what QR could be considering.....as it would circumvent current bilaterals.  The new terminal in OOL should be done by then

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

29 Dec 2016

Total posts 4

This has got more stops than my local bus :)

12 Apr 2017

Total posts 12

I won't be using it if it is angled and not fully flat in business

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

06 Nov 2014

Total posts 357

I have a feeling that the reason that EK decided to add another 777 rather than upgrade to double A380 could be:

1. There is a genuine demand. EK flight is almost always full, especially the direct A380. So another 777 with a extra capacity over 300 is better than upgrading to double daily A380 with a capacity growth of only 100ish. 
2. The one with SIN stopover may not be as popular (longer flying time, silly departure time at 2:30 am) so a second A380 mightn't fill up.
3. After EK has cut their US services, with most of those services by 777, they prolly have more 777 they don't know what to do with. BNE seem to be the best market: genuine demand, (no QR, MH and QF on kangaroo route, no other A380, EY is smallish 787, no budget airlines like air Asia) and no competition (SQ still uses angled lie flat for majority of its BNE fleet). So best to shove an unused 777 to BNE.
If SQ upgrade their entire BNE fleet to A350 or refurbed 772, or if QR finally be given permission to fly to BNE, the competition might force EK to give us a better product. In the mean time, they are happy to shove us with an inferior 2-3-2 angles J, and the tightest 10 abreast Y for the time being. 

09 Sep 2012

Total posts 139

As though anyone with half a brain would pay several thousand dollars for a so-called business-class seat which is neither 1-x-1 nor genuinely horizontal.

Brisbane is the capital of the state; with two and a half million people it also has no less than four times the population of the coast, and has air-links - which Coolangatta has not -  to the rest of the vast state, which you may know is decentralised and has no fewer than four and three quarter million people, thus all those millions from the rest of Queensland feed into Brisbane before they pop off to other countries. Would someone from Rocky, Mackay, Toowoomba rather find a flight to Coolangatta or to their very large capital city airport?
 
One unbelievable suggestion was that people from Byron Bay and Lismore should fly to Sydney instead of driving for an hour and a half and not having to change terminals painfully in Sydney.  "Whether they fly down to Sydney and connect on a flight or go up to Brisbane on land is almost the same thing. Far from it, and how many people from Byron Bay and Lismore would crowd Coolangatta Airport anyway, making it a no-brainer for Emirates to rethink the idea?

[Edited by admin to remove personal attacks/remarks.]

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

02 Apr 2017

Total posts 132

As someone from Rocky - yes, I'd much rather fly through OOL (and usually do). Majority of people from here who move away for university do so at Griffith and have ties between both cities. I fly to OOL and have a day around the Gold Coast whenever I fly internationally, and whether I'm flying out of BNE or OOL. So do plenty of others. 

Last two times I've flown to the Gulf it's been from OOL, on multiple tickets (low cost Scoot or Air Asia, then join an Emirates, Malaysian, Singaporean or Oman Air flight, it's usually a good few hundred dollars cheaper). 

I think there would be enough demand to fill a few times a week service direct OOL<>DXB. I also think Brisbane is a really great airport, and that Emirates should increase capacity there too. There is (I think) demand to do both. Or maybe there's not, but I'd like them to try it. 


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