QatarA340 From Qatar, joined May 2006, 1619 posts, RR: 7 Posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 8153 times:
Emirates will begin 4 weekly A380 services to Jeddah, KSA begining Feb 1.
Starting 1st February next year, EK 803 will leave Dubai four days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday, at 1630hrs and arrive in Jeddah at 1830hrs. From Jeddah, EK 804 departs at 2045hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0015hrs.
Gardermoen From Australia, joined Jul 1999, 1518 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 8093 times:
Didn't see this one coming! Seems an odd-ball short haul route to put them on. This must be during down time in between the long hauls they operate. Then again, with so many A380s on order they need to send them somewhere.
QatarA340 From Qatar, joined May 2006, 1619 posts, RR: 7 Reply 2, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 8068 times:
Quoting Gardermoen (Reply 1): Didn't see this one coming! Seems an odd-ball short haul route to put them on.
Well, to me its the opposite! Its a very smart move considering the KSA doesnt give a lot of slots to international airliners operating out of the Kingdom. JED flights are always full, especially during Hajj and peak Omra seasons. Very logical move!
Thorben From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 8010 times:
Only 1,700 km, a very short route for the big boy.
Quoting QatarA340 (Reply 2): Its a very smart move considering the KSA doesnt give a lot of slots to international airliners operating out of the Kingdom.
The slots must be the main reason behind this, otherwise they would offer more flights with a smaller plane.
Will F and C class be full on such a short flight? I think they will be, considering how many wealthy people live in those two countries.
9MMAR From Malaysia, joined Jul 2006, 2099 posts, RR: 20 Reply 4, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 7976 times:
Yes, you read it right. King Abdul Aziz International (JED) will received its first A380 scheduled flight from DXB beginning 1 February 2010. I was screaming when I was informed about the news by AirIndia.
According to him, the 7th A380 for EK, A6-EDG is expected to be delivered by 27 December 2009. This A380 aircraft comes with no crew rest area, thus it has 27 more Economy Class seats from the other 6 A380s that EK are currently operating.
This aircraft will be deployed for short/medium haul high capacity routes and I am so glad that JED, my current base, was choosen as the first destination, prior to the much favoured Indian destinations. Very justified in my opinion, as loads on the 2 class high density B77Ws currently used on the route and the airfares are consistently high all year around (for O & D passengers) and being a highly regulated route (read: pro Saudi Arabian Airlines), sending the A380s would be the best solution.
This scheduled service also, at only 1,057 miles between the 2 cities, will be the world's shortest scheduled A380 service, shorter than the EK's SYD-AKL vv route.
Francoflier From France, joined Oct 2001, 3252 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 7853 times:
Quoting Thorben (Reply 3): The slots must be the main reason behind this,
Not necessarily.
Airlines operating large fleets of long range airliners often try to operate a regular short haul destination with them to maintain crew currency and to provide enough training sectors, which is hard to achieve when the fleet only flies long flights with long rest patterns.
Obviously, it is much easier to do so when you have a short haul destination with enough traffic to fill these big birds.
Another good example is CX which sends a daily 744 to MNL from HKG.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit posting...
AirIndia From United Arab Emirates, joined Jan 2001, 1550 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 7853 times:
Quoting 9MMAR (Reply 4): prior to the much favoured Indian destinations
as KSA has limited slots, as mentioned before and besides freq to indian cities is no constraint for EK. BOM and DEL are not yet 380 compliant.
Infact JED is also not 380 compliant yet? correct me if i am wrong. And if it is true, then they would be remote boarding the 380 there.... will be quiet a sight
Quoting 9MMAR (Reply 4): I was screaming when I was informed about the news by AirIndia.
HiJazzey From Saudi Arabia, joined Sep 2005, 788 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 7712 times:
They always remote board in JED. There are no boarding bridges in the current terminals (except hajj terminal, but that's separate from scheduled). When the new terminal complex is up it will have Code F gates (I think 5 of them).
This route makes a lot of sense. It has both volume (there's a lot of O&D demand + connections) and yield. Plus being a short route, it increases utilisation and crew currency.
I've always avoided EK on this route. The A380 might change things
Ek-a380 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 163 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 7523 times:
I wonder if they will use the same tactic with flights to Northern Pakistan - Lahore, Islamabad due to slot restraints and political games the Pakistani Government and Aviation Industry seem to be playing with EK?
I don't understand what their problem is when at the same time EY and QR have been granted the rights to fly daily to LHE and ISB.
I find this frustrating and sad, especially when looking into EK's history they setup by leasing 2 aircraft from PIA!
I also read a few weeks back that there has been some tit tat between PIA and Dubai around PIA wanting to fly from DXB to the new Sialkot Airport and Dubai refusing...
AirIndia From United Arab Emirates, joined Jan 2001, 1550 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 7234 times:
Quoting Ek-a380 (Reply 9): I don't understand what their problem is when at the same time EY and QR have been granted the rights to fly daily to LHE and ISB.
one reason cud be that Qatar and Abu Dhabi are the cash rich emirates that mey be funding Pakistan govt and elping them financially...... so in reciprocation Pak offered EY and QR the slots and rights, but DXB is a different case.......... and i guess open skies with EK will signal the potential end of PK's intl network.............
Ssublyme From United States of America, joined Dec 2008, 504 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 7218 times:
Quoting QatarA340 (Reply 8): I wonder how handicapped people will deboard from the second floor?
Would it be different from how they boarded? Personally I would expect handicapped passengers would be on the lower level.
QatarA340 From Qatar, joined May 2006, 1619 posts, RR: 7 Reply 12, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 7140 times:
Quoting Ssublyme (Reply 11): Would it be different from how they boarded? Personally I would expect handicapped passengers would be on the lower level.
Well, handicapped people would board via jetbridges in Dubai, and disembark by staircase in JED. Maybe they have those trucks that lift up to the plane.
Airxliban From Lebanon, joined Oct 2003, 4492 posts, RR: 55 Reply 14, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 6969 times:
As a frequent traveller on EK803/804 to JED I can't say I am delighted to hear this news.
Immigration at JED (RUH...DMM...) is bad enough as it is, and if you are sitting towards the back of the 777 that currently operates the route, you can easily spend an hour going through passport control - easily - especially with the new fingerprinting rubbish that the Saudis have implemented.
Imagine how much worse it will be with the A380. If you're in F or J and you're on the first bus then it's one thing, but if you are towards the back of economy then forget about it...budget 2 hours to get through.
I also feel bad for the people on the Lufthansa flight which arrives just after the EK one, who will now have 550+ people in the immigration hall in front of them when they arrive.
As for me, I'll continue taking SV - a much, much, much better proposition for KSA flights.
A6-EDG has already been delivered. Do you know if EDH to be delivered on Jan 15th will have no crew rest as well? I'm guessing these are the aircraft that will be flying to Europe and Asia?
Eightball From Saudi Arabia, joined Oct 2007, 272 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 6193 times:
Since Jeddah is my hometown, I think it's quite fitting that I read this piece of news only a couple of hours after arriving at DXB. I just got off the longest flight that I've flown on to date: EK 226, SFO-DXB, which lasted for about 16 hours.
BasilFawlty From Netherlands, joined Jun 2009, 1266 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 4807 times:
Quoting QatarA340 (Thread starter): Starting 1st February next year, EK 803 will leave Dubai four days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday, at 1630hrs and arrive in Jeddah at 1830hrs. From Jeddah, EK 804 departs at 2045hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0015hrs.
That's a long turnaround time for such a short flight. LHR has to do it with 15 minutes less while the flight time to LHR is almost thrice as long.
Airlines operating large fleets of long range airliners often try to operate a regular short haul destination with them to maintain crew currency and to provide enough training sectors, which is hard to achieve when the fleet only flies long flights with long rest patterns.
Obviously, it is much easier to do so when you have a short haul destination with enough traffic to fill these big birds.
Another good example is CX which sends a daily 744 to MNL from HKG.
Yes quite necessarily actually.
It is probably a mixture of both. Primarily this A380 service to KSA is because the kingdom is highly restricted from a bilateral perspective, in favor of its National Carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines. So if no additional frequencies are allocated to foreign carriers during any specific Bilateral review, then its only common sense to deploy higher capacity, as long as it is within the limits of the Air Service Agreement.
Saudi Arabia is a HUGE market for the Gulf network carriers!
I think as a secondary, JED can be one of those ideal short-haul routes that EK can send their big birds to, in order to keep them and their crew flying and current!
From the way i see it, the announcement was released only yesterday and the flight was put on sale immediately afterwards. This only tells me that approval for this operation was a little delayed from the KSA side, and EK has a minimum time required to put the flight up for sale.
Congrats EK!
Regards,
Roni
A Stop Away From One-Stop, Is Non-Stop : Airbus A340-500
Lightsaber From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 10886 posts, RR: 100 Reply 20, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 3390 times:
Quoting Gardermoen (Reply 1): Didn't see this one coming! Seems an odd-ball short haul route to put them on. This must be during down time in between the long hauls they operate.
I wonder why EK not fly more short haul routes. Both for aircraft utilization and for crew training.
Quoting QatarA340 (Reply 2): Well, to me its the opposite! Its a very smart move considering the KSA doesnt give a lot of slots to international airliners operating out of the Kingdom.
If slots are precious, that is what the A380 is for.
Quoting Francoflier (Reply 5): Another good example is CX which sends a daily 744 to MNL from HKG.
I still recall when SQ was flying A380's SIN-KUL. A mere 161 nm (as the crow flies)
Now when will EK utilize a few more of the A380's on short haul missions?
Quoting Ek-a380 (Reply 9): I also read a few weeks back that there has been some tit tat between PIA and Dubai around PIA wanting to fly from DXB to the new Sialkot Airport and Dubai refusing...
Comments please
My opinion is that Pakistan and Dubai have a riff on bilaterals. Dubai will not grant anything new to Pakistan unless EK (or FlyDubai) is granted a similar increase.
Quoting 9MMAR (Reply 4): Yes, you read it right. King Abdul Aziz International (JED) will received its first A380 scheduled flight from DXB beginning 1 February 2010.
Emirates2005 From Germany, joined Jun 2005, 237 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 3125 times:
What a waste of the A380. The route does not do it justice and as per my source is EK, Business class is reserved for Saudi's ONLY. Meaning that no one other than Saudi's can fly in business.
It that is so, why would they want to fly the A380 with so many empty business seats?
EK is an incredible airline, but sometimes I am struck some not very well thought through decisions. I would expect the A380 to be put on FRA waaaaaaay before Saudi.
Egyptair269 From Egypt, joined Mar 2007, 198 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2596 times:
I'm very, very surprised actually. Apart from the fact that JED will have troubles handling the A380 as Airxliban posted, what made EK choose JED as an A380 route over other places like FRA??
KissK From Malaysia, joined Aug 2007, 196 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (3 years 5 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2585 times:
Quoting Emirates2005 (Reply 21): Business class is reserved for Saudi's ONLY. Meaning that no one other than Saudi's can fly in business.
does not make sense
25 Airxliban: This is rubbish as KissK pointed out. There is no such thing as business class being reserved for only Saudis. I'm not Saudi...and I've flown into KS
26 Ojas: The same problem when the Govt Of India gives 185 weekly flights/ 53,000 seats/week to EK and QR, EY are restricted.
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