In a sign of recovery-to-come, Emirates announced today that it would be resuming its service between Milan Malpensa (MXP) and New York's John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The UAE flag-carrier will restart its successful fifth freedom flight from June 1st, operating a Boeing 777-300ER.
Reaffirming transatlantic commitment
The flight will be an extension of Emirates Dubai to Milan service, EK205. This will depart Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 09:45 and arrive at MXP at 14:20. The plane will remain on the ground for less than two hours before departing again at 16:10. Arrival at JFK is scheduled for 19:00, the same date.
The return service, EK206, will depart JFK at 22:00, arriving in Milan at 12:15 the following day. Just as on the way to New York, it will stay on the ground for one hour and 50 minutes before taking off for Dubai again at 14:05. It is scheduled to arrive back at DXB at 22:10.
"Emirates has recently reaffirmed its commitment to the US with the resumption of services to 11 gateways (including Orlando and Newark in June). The resumed service between Dubai-Milan-JFK will offer more choice to travellers heading from Europe, the Middle East, West Asia, and Africa via Dubai or Milan as well as give seamless access to other US cities beyond New York via the airline’s codeshare agreement with JetBlue," the airline said in a statement.
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Flights to New York operated by 777s
Flights will be operated by the carrier's Boeing 777-300ER. The planes feature eight first class seats, 42 lie-flat business seats, and 304 seats in economy.
Furthermore, Emirates said that it would increase its services to and from JFK to three times daily to support the newly restored link. The airline currently has two daily scheduled nonstop services between DXB and JFK, also operated by Boeing 777s.
Prior to the crisis, Emirates was operating DXB-MXP-JFK with its Airbus A380s. According to the airline's President, Sir Tim Clark, the flights were completely full all the time. In fact, it was doing so well that the carrier sought to expand it but failed to secure more slots at JFK.
Emirates' fifth freedom
Fifth freedom flights allow airlines to operate passenger revenue services between two countries other than their own. Emirates is no stranger to securing permission to operate them in order to expand its network and serve more passengers.
Some of the airline's more noteworthy (pre- and hopefully post-pandemic) examples include Barcelona to Mexico City, Melbourne to Singapore, Sydney to Christchurch, Bangkok to Hong Kong, Athens to Newark, and Rio de Janeiro to both Santiago and Buenos Aires.
Have you ever taken an Emirates fifth freedom flight? Between which countries? Was it to have an opportunity to fly the A380? Leave a comment below and let us know.