Emirates to drop A380 'superjumbo' service to US

Dubai: Emirates is cutting capacity on its New York route due to reduced travel demand by replacing the A380 superjumbo with a smaller aircraft, but said the change does not mean an overall reduction in services to the United States.

In the new schedule for the A380, the airline will introduce the double-decker plane to serve its Bangkok and Toronto routes.

Starting June, the aircraft will debut in Canada while the new Thai route extends the aircraft's presence in Asia after the successful launch of the A380 to Sydney and Auckland in February, Emirates said yesterday.

"As the global economy has affected international air travel, this aircraft redeployment was based solely on a change in capacity demands in these three markets," a company spokesperson said.

The A380 will be replaced by the B777-300ER on the New York route, decreasing daily capacity by 132 seats.

"When economic conditions improve, we anticipate demand will be restored on the Dubai-New York JFK service, at which time Emirates will certainly evaluate redeploying the A380 on this route," the airline said.

Despite withdrawing the A380 from the New York service, the airline still plans to increase the Los Angeles and San Francisco services to a daily frequency starting in May.

Deploying the A380 for the Thai and Canadian services will provide the airline an extra capacity of about 30 per cent for each route.

"Our Toronto route has had consistently high demand since the thrice weekly service was launched two years ago.

"The A380 will allow Emirates to address some of the unmet need in Toronto while on Bangkok, the A380 will help support the Thai government's new tourism initiatives," Emirates president Tim Clark said in a statement.

The airline said the new A380 routes also offer strengthened support for transit markets.

With the A380 now servicing London Heathrow, British tourists travelling to and from Thailand "can enjoy a seamless A380 experience while for Canada, the change means increased access to Dubai and the Gulf region."

Emirates, the biggest customer of the A380s, at present has four in operation. It will take delivery of another four during its April 2009-March 2010 financial year.

In the new A380 schedule, Emirates will fly the Heathrow, Sydney-Auckland, Bangkok and Toronto routes.