Emirates’ 560-tonne game-changer: Airbus A380 helped shake up the NZ travel market

Emirates will today mark 20 years flying to New Zealand, having flown three times the population of this country between here and Dubai and beyond.

The airline has the biggest wide-body fleet in the world, and its presence in this market has been a game-changer for travel and tourism in this country, says the head of one agent group. Before the airline arrived, travel through the Middle East was limited.

One travel agent said the impact of Emirates has been significant.

“Emirates’ service-oriented and growth-oriented approach has played a vital role in shaping the international travel market in New Zealand. The airline’s focus on diplomatic, business and travel connections has fostered economic and cultural ties between New Zealand and the rest of the world,” said the agent.

Since its inaugural Boeing 777-300 flight on August 2, 2003, Emirates has carried over 16 million passengers on 49,000 services between Dubai and New Zealand.

Its non-stop Auckland to Dubai flight route (at 14,000 kilometres) remains the longest on the airline’s network.

Emirates’ entry into the New Zealand travel market has had a significant impact on prices, said the agent. Its full-service offering, coupled with pricing strategies and frequent promotional offers, has put downward pressure on airfares.

Flight Centre Travel Group NZ managing director Victoria Courtney said Emirates was the first airline to bring the A380 into New Zealand, opening up capacity and travel opportunities for Kiwi travellers (Singapore Airlines will be bringing back its own A380 during summer after a break during the pandemic).

Courtney said Emirates has been responsive to consumer demand, increasing capacity and routes.

Christchurch Airport chief executive Justin Watson said Emirates was hugely important to the visitor and freight economies of the South Island.

During the time it had operated there, its wide body aircraft have flown 2.5 million passengers and many thousands of tonnes of high value freight to and from Christchurch Airport.

“The airline’s extensive international network offers incredibly valuable connectivity. It means visitors from Australia and all over the world can access the South Island and New Zealanders are easily connected with every corner of the globe.”

One of Emirates’ founders and its president, Sir Tim Clark, told the Business Herald the New Zealand market punched above its weight.

“New Zealanders have a high propensity to travel - [it’s] a small market with a huge number of passengers, disproportionate to its population size.”

The airline started flying here with Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s. But after the much bigger A380 entered the airline’s fleet in 2008, Clark had no doubt it was the plane for New Zealand.

“A lot of people said, ‘You’re never going to get beyond a 777′. I said, ‘Watch’. We knew once we got the A380 going it would go really well, and it has done.”

The airline’s 560-tonne A380s have a 21-square metre bar at the back of the upper deck for passengers flying business and first-class, who also have access to two showers during flights.

At one point, Auckland had the second-highest number of Emirates A380s on the ground behind any point on its network, behind Dubai, when it was doing a lot of transtasman flying. One incentive for the number of short hops with A380s across the Tasman was the high cost of parking the big planes at Sydney Airport.

Flights across the Tasman were scaled back after Emirates’ partnership with Qantas was launched and when non-stop Auckland-Dubai flights started. The airline hasn’t reintroduced its Auckland-Bali-Dubai service, which was running before the pandemic and sharpened competition to the holiday hotspot.

Emirates is waiting for new generation 777s, with all-new cabin products, but in the meantime has a $US2 billion ($3.2b) refurbishment programme under way to standardise the interior of its entire fleet. The airline has more than 120 Boeing 777s in its fleet and close to 90 of its 116 A380s flying.

Clark says upgrading each plane costs between US$10 million and US$12m.

Emirates is currently flying 14 weekly flights to New Zealand from Dubai, with direct daily services to Auckland and to Christchurch via Sydney, offering passengers the only opportunity to travel across the Tasman on an A380.

In March 2023, New Zealand became the first country to exclusively operate Emirates’ new four-class A380 on all its services. The aircraft are equipped with 56 premium economy seats, with the new cabin class introduced by Emirates last year.

Barry Brown, Emirates’ divisional vice-president for Australasia, said the milestone highlights the airline’s ongoing commitment to the New Zealand market.

“We’re immensely proud of the work we’ve done in New Zealand during this time, exporting the country’s vast bounty of home-grown produce to the rest of the world and, critically, keeping New Zealand globally connected during the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.

The airline flew more than one million Covid vaccines to this country.

Brown said that as demand continues to grow, the airline will “look forward to continuing and growing our services to New Zealand”.

“Offering those travelling to the country a chance to experience our world-class product, and delivering substantial benefits to the economy through travel connections, cargo and inbound seats.”

Emirates is also committed to sourcing and serving local New Zealand ingredients and wines on board. Currently, Emirates is serving Craggy Range Te Muna Road Sauvignon Blanc 2022 across business-class and first-class services to New Zealand. Other New Zealand wines are being added on board later this year.

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.