Chicago: Emirates on Tuesday landed its first passenger-laden Boeing 777-200LR in America’s Windy City, marking its ninth US route to the trill of harmonicas handed out to the inaugural flight’s passengers — and high expectations.
The new daily Chicago route is the latest city in the Dubai-based airline’s intense expansion into the United States and the second launch there this year following the addition of a Boston service in March.
The third-largest city in the US, with 9.5 million people in its surrounding conurbation, Chicago is a metropolis on the banks of Lake Michigan, the home of deep-dish pizza, Al Capone and ‘All That Jazz’.
It’s also the home of Boeing, so it was no surprise that Emirates flew one of its long-range 777s into the city. But with already strong demand for the destination, an A380 might be seen on the route in future, Adel Al Redha, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, said to applause at a press conference at O’Hare airport shortly after the flight landed at 3.25pm local time. The inaugural flight was fully booked, and throughout August, Al Reda said it was at 85 per cent capacity.
The Chicago launch comes 10 years after Emirates started flights to the US, into New York in 2004. The only reason it’s taken as long as it has is a lack of aircraft, Al Reda told Gulf News.
“Chicago has been one of those destinations we’ve always wanted to operate to but we always run short of aircraft.
“The states mean a lot to us, there is great potential. I think it will grow very quickly.”
The 14-hour flight in the long-range twin engine jet carried 216 passengers in economy, 42 in business and 8 in first class, as well as 11 tonnes of cargo. “That’s good for a first flight,” said Al Reda. Emirates has been operating a twice weekly freight service to O’Hare since 2013. The balance of trade until now has been in Chicago’s favour, with an average of 7, 4000 tonnes of exports weekly to Dubai.
Like Dubai, Chicago has a tourism target for 2020 — 55 million visitors.
Al Reda said the Emirates launch would bring $200 million in annual economic activity to Chicago, while airport and tourism officials highlighted the importance of the launch to local coffers. Tourism is a $14 billion industry for the city, providing over 130,000 jobs.
In terms of commerce and tourism, Chicago’s an important connection point for the world, said Rosemarie Andolino, the commissioner for Chicago’s department of aviation. “We serve over 200 destinations from our city, [handling] 87 million passengers” annually.
The city also hopes to be a front-runner in moving passengers through O’Hare by improving some of the dreaded US immigration procedures. “We’ve made the entry process more efficient, putting in new technology to expedite people through the facility.”
