I have spoken to a employee of Menzies who handle Emirates flights in Sydney, Melbourne & Auckland. They mentioned to me that Emirates staff have been advised that Emirates from 2005 may well be flying from Dubai via Melbourne & Auckland to San Francisco?

Also in Todays Australian Financial Review, a journalist (Ben Sandilands) stated that current rules would allow Emirates to fly from Auckland/NZ to JFK-New York, which they could probably handle with their A340-500's.

Interesting times hey! I am sure that any AKL-SFO service would be operated by either a B777-200IGW or a A340-500 (depending on aircraft availability?) as there B777-300 doesn't currently have the range? Also if it was to be a B777-200IGW, they might have to get FAA approval first as I understand only United have ETOPS/FANS approval on the Pacific with P&W powered B772's. I might be wrong, so will stand corrected if need be?

Cheers - BZF  

Oh the article also stated that EK are now carrying huge amounts of cargo over he Tasman becasue QF & NZ are battling it out with smaller jets!

My guess is that it will be on the A345. DXB-SFO service is due to start on Jan 1st. So, this, if it does indeed happen, will probably come after that. I would love to see this flight start. Lets hope it happens.

-Copa

they should do it via PVG, it's just not logical to fly DXB-MEL/AKL-SFO, PVG should be able to serve as a connection point. maybe EK is just doing the US extention as a separate service. i mean that we already have quite good carriers on the route to west coast of US, such as TN, NZ and QF, i originally thought EK would extend the services to a pacific island or south america

If they do a AKL - US service, they will suck the life out of the likes of QF and NZ.

Sounds a bit odd:

DXB-SFO 8103 miles:


VS.:

DXB-AKL-SFO 15340 miles:

There has been lots of talk about Emirates starting up a regional hub in Auckland, so perhaps this is part of their strategy? They would certainly put a dent in Air NZ's market share across the Pacific.

Time will tell!

BZF  

The Singapore government has signed an open skies agreement with Australia that allows beyond rights to the west coast from Australia. However, it seems as though the Australian govt is very reluctant to allow SQ to fly from OZ to the US. So, I guess, I find it very difficult to believe EK will be able to do the same.

I am sure the current govt, and rightfully so, will do whatever is necessary to protect the incumbent carrier.

Yes, this discussions before about new service to USA flights.

Chinaeastern

Im sure you'd love to see EK flying from PVG to SFO, but I think that the Aust/NZ market is going to be more attractive.

Why? For a start, every seat is full on those transpacific flights. It's not easy to get on the the thing is a cash cow for QF.

I think NZ has to change or die(got to get profits out of those long hauls) and althought I absolutely love NZ catering!!! (one of the best out there) they need to add a few other touches to compete with QF. United also has got some catching up to do, particularly in economy compared to these two.

So my point. How many Chinese can afford, for leisure purposes, to fly to SFO? Sure, I know there is a HUGE business market, but those ppl are going to be locked into the frequent flyer schemes of the likes of United, Northwest and JAL, especially the non-chinese based part of the market. EK would need a lot of passengers originating in PVG to make it work. The Australia/New Zealand market, however, has a lot more ppl that can afford to buy that ticket that are paying for it themselves and less likely to think like those with the corporate accounts. Plus, it has a huge potential to get US tourists because they feel NZ and Aust are one of the safest places for them to go to at the moment. I doubt they're all that interested in ppl connecting from DXB in this case... it is access to a new market. That is what they are after.

I think the chances that EK will be allowed to carry passengers from PVG to U.S. West Coast will be about zero given that traffic rights are already given to US and Chinese carriers and subjected to government approval.
I can't believe Australia and NZ government and or carriers will be so generous in allowing EK to start service to the US as well.

I can't see EK operating a viable West-Coast operation to either Australia or New Zealand. While the F/J cabins are primarily O&D, the Y cabin is not. The Y cabin is going onward from MEL to ASP, AYQ, CNS. The Y cabin is going onward from AKL to CHC and ZQN. Further, going the other direction, the Y cabin is going to a myriad of cities in the USA. Unless EK has domestic partners on both sides of the pacific, they will be left carrying only O&D traffic, and there just isn't enough of that to steal from QF and NZ. QF and NZ have loyalty programs that will retain most of their best customers. What does that leave for EK? Only A.nutters get excited about flying a particular carrier, just for the sake of flying. But that's just my 2 cents.

thx guys, i did notice the AUS/NZ market as i mentioned EK is really intending to do DXB-MEL/AKL and MEL/AKL-SFO separatly as two markets. i shouldn't have mentioned PVG, but it just came to my mind as it is geografically located on the way, maybe KIX would do it? BTW, Lufthansa: i'm actually more interested to see EK flying out AKL to US rather than PVG, as i'm based in MEL. but i don't really agree with u on the QF/NZ thing as i much prefer NZ over QF. and they are doing OK on the pacific while QF have to rely on all sorts of carriers like TN, SB, PA,FJ to compete with NZ, and NZ is changing, ordering new aircraft. For QF, look at what they've done at MEL!!!

If EK are going to operate to the West coast of the US then wouldn't the A345 that flies to AKL via SYD be the better choice as the A345 that is going to fly to MEL is going to carry onto CHC.

Thankyou Voodoo,
some sense to this thread!
DXB to SFO direct is 8103 miles. An A345 would do this non stop, not go on a ridiculous long-winded tour of the Southern Hemisphere! Lets get real! For those who don't believe me SIN-EWR is 9534 miles and is a reality.
EK's schedules currently offer DXB-SFO via LHR and UA, the opposite way round the globe! Great circle mapper gives this at 8787 miles. Why would EK send their pax on a 7000 mile detour? THEY WOULDN'T because they know Pax wouldn't go for it. If EK are to serve SFO or LAX it would be direct

Boysteve - obviously routing passengers DXB-SFO through New Zealand wouldn't make much sense. However, if they were wanting to enter into the Aus/NZ to USA market, then it would. Emirates is making a huge push in the New Zealand market, so trying to compete on the routes to America really wouldn't surprise me. It would also provide them with a round-the-world flight...

V/F