Emirates has officially inaugurated its newest route to Miami. Flight EK213 departed Dubai Airport at 03:24 AM for the 15-hour journey to sunny Florida. The new route replaced Emirates’ previous connection to Fort Lauderdale, which was axed at the start of the pandemic last year. Let’s find out more.
Take off
Less than two months after announcing the route, Emirates has flown its first service to Maimi. The route retains the flight numbers EK213 and EK214, which were previously assigned to flights to nearby Fort Lauderdale. The route will be Emirates’ sixth-longest at 12,626 kilometers covered on the outbound leg.
EK213 departed Dubai Airport at 03:24 AM local time (14 minutes late), preparing for a mammoth journey to the southern tip of the US. The flight took a straightforward route over Saudi Arabia and Egypt before entering the Mediterranean Sea and crossing Spain to enter the Atlantic.
After spending nearly eight hours over the ocean, EK213 landed safely in Maimi at 10:44 AM local time (16 minutes early). Today’s total flight time was 15 hours and 20 minutes, narrowly missing out on the status of being an ultra-long-haul service (EK213 is scheduled to the 15 hours and 50 minutes long, minutes short of the 16-hour definition).
New
Flights between Dubai and Miami will fly four times a week, operating on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The return leg, EK214, departs Miami Airport on the same days at 21:10, a full 10 hours after arrival, and will reach Dubai at 19:25 local time the next day, with a journey time of 14 hours and 15 minutes.
The route is being operated by Emirates’ trusted Boeing 777-300ER. Today’s flight was flown by A6-EQL, a 3.2-year-old 77W, delivered new to the airline in June 2018, according to ch-aviation. The aircraft seats 354 passengers in a three-class layout, with 306 in economy, 42 in business, and six in first class.
As eagle-eyed readers may have noticed, this 777-300ER features Emirates ‘Gamechanger’ cabins. In particular, the plane offers first class suites in a 1-1-1 layout, full with virtual windows for middle-seat passengers. With upgraded economy and business class cabins, the flight was likely comfortable for most passengers.
Switch
As Simple Flying has previously analyzed, Emirates’ flights to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) had no issues with load factors. With flights almost 90% full in both directions, the real issue was this being supported by below-average fares on the FLL route. With tickets 20% cheaper on the FLL route than other US ones, it’s no surprise Emirates axed the route early in the pandemic.
However, this doesn’t mean low demand on routes to Florida. Miami is a much larger market for the carrier and gives it a chance to price tickets at competitive fares. As Emirates recovers from the pandemic, expect to see more pragmatism on its routes in the future.
What do you think about Emirates’ new Miami route? Will it be more successful than its last one? Let us know in the comments!
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