Emirates is celebrating 25 years of flying to Australia. Since the inaugural flight between Dubai and Melbourne in 1996, Emirates has transported more than 39 million passengers on its routes between Australian points including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide and other destinations in the airline’s network.
In addition to flights operated between Australia and its hub city of Dubai, passengers also enjoyed direct and convenient access to South East Asian destinations and travel hubs via its fifth freedom flights to Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, as well as trans-Tasman travel to neighbouring New Zealand, to Auckland and Christchurch. The flights offering direct connections to APAC destinations are all within a three-to-eight-hour flight from the Australian cities.
On the occasion of the year of its silver jubilee, Barry Brown, Emirates Divisional Vice President for Australasia, said the landmark milestone highlights the airline’s long-standing commitment to the Australian market and its people, with continuous services.
“Australia remains one of Emirates’ most important markets and it’s our crew, local suppliers and, of course, our Australian passengers that have made the last 25 years so memorable. We are here for the long-haul and, despite the challenges and restrictions imposed on airlines operating in Australia over the past year, we continued serving the country and our customers irrespectively.
“The continued expansion of our network both globally and throughout the major cities in Australia, allows us to connect passengers from Australia to all corners of the world via our hub in Dubai. As the world begins to open up once more, and international travel can be seen on the horizons for Australians longing for travel later this year, we look forward to continuing to serve customers and playing our part in re-connecting friends and families and offering a gateway to the rest of the world for years to come.”
Connecting people
Over a quarter of a century, Emirates has continued to display its strong commitment to the Australian market increasing the size of its operations from three flights a week when it initially launched in 1996 in Melbourne, peaking to over 100 flights per week prior to the pandemic.
Total kilometres clocked by Emirates’ aircrafts travelling in and out of Australia since operations began is 1.7 billion kilometres – enough to travel the world around roughly 42,700 times. Over the 25-year period Emirates operated 204,000 flights to and from its Australian points. Top international destinations for Australians include the UK, Ireland, Italy and Greece.
Connecting communities through Sports and Cultural events
In the time that Emirates has operated in Australia, the airline has invested more than AUD 100 million in local sponsorships of a number of Australia’s leading sporting teams and events, ranging from the Collingwood Football Club since 1999, making it the longest partnership within Emirates’ sponsorship portfolio, in addition to Australian Open Tennis since 2015, and Emirates Australian Open Golf since 2009, later becoming the title sponsor of the tournament in 2011. Sharing its customers’ passion for the arts and culture, Emirates has been a long-time Principal Partner of both Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 2003, in addition to its partnership with the Adelaide Festival, dating back to 2014.
In the past, Emirates’ sponsorships included Victoria Racing Club and Emirates Melbourne Cup, a partnership which lasted for 20 years, in addition to Australian PGA Championship and Emirates Western Force.
Passengers on flights to and from Australia enjoy the hospitality of Emirates’ multi-national cabin crew, comprising 165 nationalities, including Australians. Emirates employs a diverse mix of pilots from four corners of the globe and Australians are well-represented amongst those that operate its widebody fleet of A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.
Connecting economies and stablishing trade lanes
In addition to its passenger operations, Emirates also remains one of the leading international cargo carriers in Australia serving the country for 25 years and currently offering cargo capacity on more than 25 weekly flights to and from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. As one of the leading international cargo carriers, Emirates’ airfreight division acts as an important facilitator of international trade, having played a crucial role in establishing and building up trade lanes that support the Australian economy and connecting the country’s businesses to Dubai, the wider Middle East region and global markets.
This month, Emirates SkyCargo also marks a decade since the airline operated its first dedicated freighter flight to Sydney in September 2011, connecting East Asia and Australia to Dubai and beyond with its freighter aircraft. The weekly service, operated by its Boeing 777-F aircraft, flew the Dubai-Singapore-Sydney-Hong Kong-Dubai route and connected significant trading hubs, facilitating the exchange of goods on this vital trade route.
Emirates SkyCargo gradually introduced its freighter operations to other Australian destinations, complementing the cargo capacity offered on Emirates’ passenger flights. Currently Emirates SkyCargo operates its freighter aircraft to Melbourne and Sydney providing direct freight connectivity with Asian markets including Indonesia (Jakarta) and Singapore as well as broader connectivity to the rest of global markets through Dubai.
Cargo operations have proved to be invaluable for Australian farmers and businesses, and have ensured that essential goods such as medicine and fresh food can move through the global supply chain. Australia is a major exporting country, providing the world with commodities such as meat, metals and machinery.
Throughout the pandemic Emirates continued cargo services to facilitate the flow of essential goods across markets and participated in the Australian Government’s International Freight Assistance Mechanism. Through this initiative, Emirates directly supported 500 Australian producers by strengthening supply chains to key export markets, particularly in the agriculture and seafood export sectors. Emirates also carried medical supplies and pharmaceuticals into Australia including around 6.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
During the last calendar year alone, Emirates exported over 36,000 tonnes of cargo out of Australia, including over 24,000 tonnes of perishables/food such as meat, fruit and vegetables.
Over the five-year period from 2016 to 2020, Emirates transported more than 500,000 tonnes of exports and imports combined. Items exported include over 85,000 tonnes of meat and 50,000 tonnes of fresh produce, 4,000 tonnes of which were strawberries from Perth alone. Key commodities imported into Australia included pharmaceuticals and flowers.
In addition to the four destinations where it operates flights, Emirates SkyCargo offers wider connectivity to businesses around Australia through its road feeder connectivity services, trucking goods to and from Emirates’ flight destinations to other locations in the country including Adelaide.
Sustainability efforts
Emirates recognises its responsibility in preserving the planet’s resources and are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our operations across all business activities. As part of its environmental efforts, the Emirates Group has invested over AUD 125 million in developing Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley, Australia’s first luxury conservation resort, which employs 121 people. The ongoing conservation work at the 1,600-hectare resort plays a big part in the guest experience. Since it opened in 2009, 175,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted at the world’s first resort to achieve carbon-neutral accreditation.
Furthermore, in order to provide relief for those impacted by the Australian bushfire in 2020, Emirates donated 10% of in-flight duty free sales for 1 month in January 2020 and matched what was raised for a total of more than AUD 4 million in proceeds going towards the recovery and rebuilding efforts taking place in the communities affected across Australia.
Codeshare partnership with Qantas
This year Emirates also celebrates the eighth anniversary of its codeshare partnership with Qantas, which allows Emirates’ customers to connect to the Australian national carrier’s domestic network while Qantas customers are able to access Emirates’ destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The strategic partnership goes beyond a traditional codeshare alliance to include integrated network collaboration.
.jpg){kind=tracking}