Dubai: Emirates is delaying the start date of its new service to Panama by nearly two months because it says it is still waiting on code-share approvals “from the wider Central and Latin America region.”
Flights to Panama City, the capital of Panama, will now start on March 31, nearly two months after the previously announced February 1 launch, an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News by email on Thursday.
“Emirates will defer the launch … in order fully receive all regulatory code-share approvals from the … region,” the spokesperson said.
The airline first announced flights to Panama, its fourth destination in Central and South America, in August last year under much fanfare that it will fly the world’s longest non-stop flight.
Panama will be Emirates first destination in Central America with the airline, one of the world’s biggest, already flying to South American cities Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
The Dubai to Panama City service will cover a distance of 13, 821 kilometres, 17 more kilometres than the current longest non-stop flight operated by Emirates’ partner Qantas from Dallas, United States to Sydney Australia.
In Thursday’s statement, Emirates said despite the delay it remains committed to the launch of flights to Panama.
“Emirates firmly believes in the potential of the route, not only as a valuable trade and tourism link between the two fast growing global cities of Panama and Dubai, but also as a gateway for travellers across Emirates’ global network to access Central and Latin American markets with just one stop in Dubai, and vice versa,” the spokesperson said.
A380 to pert twice daily:
In a separate statement, Emirates said it is increasing capacity on its Perth, Australia route by adding a second daily Airbus A380 service from August 1. The superjumbo A380 is replacing the existing Boeing 777-300ER (extended range) flown on the 10:45am daily morning service out of Dubai to the west Australian city. The earlier 3:00am Dubai departure is already operated by an A380. The airline stated it will be able to fly 14,000 passengers a week between Dubai and Perth following the launch of the second daily A380 service.
