Emirates is to start operating a third daily flight from Manchester on May 1 after seeing “unprecedented demand” from UK regions.
The announcement came after rival Middle Eastern carrier Etihad also announced an increase in its programme from Manchester to 14 fligths a week from a planned 10. The new Emirates year-round service will fly overnight from Dubai arriving in Manchester at 7.55am and returning to Dubai at 9.40am.
Laurie Berryman, UK and Ireland vice president, said the early arrival time into Dubai of 7.40pm local time would be welcomed by holidaymakers.
“It will allow them to be in their resorts by about 9-9.30pm and so they won’t lose out on any of their holiday.” He said the new flight had been added “due to unprecedented demand from the regions”.
“We brought the A380 to Manchester last September and it filled up very, very quickly. The A380 seems to have a magnetic effect – it pulls people across from other flights and airlines.
“And agents have really got behind this. More and more people are realising that you don’t have to go south to go long-haul. It will have excellent connections to the Indian sub-continent, Thailand and many other cities.”
Berryman pointed out that only 30% of Emirates’ UK business was to Dubai as the final destination, the rest transiting through the hub to other destinations.
Plans for how the new Manchester capacity will be marketed through the trade have still to be finalised but Berryman said there would be some “excellent introductory offers” to raise awareness and because May was not the most popular time to travel.
Berryman revealed all Emirates’ prices had gone up 10% to cover the increasing cost of fuel. He said APD had definitely contributed to a slight dent in Emirate’s top market to Australia which had also been hit by the Queensland flooding and the Perth fires.
But he said Thailand had remained very strong as it offered great value for money, and also said that a slow February and March were being cancelled out by April and May which were up.
Berryman said there was incredibly strong demand to travel over the April bank holiday when Prince William is due to marry Kate Middleton, unlike 30 years ago when Prince Charles married Princess Diana and people opted to stay in the UK to watch it.