Emirates announced that it plans to launch a second daily service from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Friday 1st July 2016.
The second Los Angeles flight will be operated with an Emirates’ Airbus A380-800ULR aircraft in a 3-class configuration with 14 private suites in First class, 76 seats in Business class and 401 seats in Economy class.
The new service, flight EK217, will depart Dubai at 3:00 p.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 8:00 p.m. The return flight, EK218, will depart Los Angeles at 10:30 p.m. and arrive in Dubai approximately 16 hours later at 1:30 a.m. The new service will supplement the current EK215 Airbus A380-800 flight departing Dubai at 8:55 a.m. and landing in Los Angeles at 1:55 p.m. The existing return flight, EK216, departs LAX 4:45 p.m. and arrives in Dubai 7:35 p.m. the following day. The complementary flight times of Emirates’ new 2nd daily service will serve the growing customer demand for travel between Dubai and the western United States, as well as for those passengers connecting to Emirates’ vast global network of onwards destinations.
“Our existing service provides USD $677 million in annual economic benefit to L.A. and the surrounding area, contributes over USD $270 million in annual spending by visitors, and helps to support nearly 6000 U.S jobs,” said Hubert Frach, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, West. “So our additional service to LAX not only doubles our capacity to meet demand for our award winning service, but also increases our positive economic impact to the Los Angeles area.”
Los Angeles, California is the 2nd largest city in the United States. Commonly referred to as the City of Angels, Los Angeles is a global city with a diverse economy in entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine and research. While most often associated with its world renowned entertainment industry, L.A. is one of the largest manufacturing centres in the western U.S. and supports a thriving aerospace sector as well. In fact, LA County has 56,239 people employed in the aerospace and defense industry, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
A major export from Los Angeles is fruits and vegetables and these account for the largest portion of Emirates’ cargo exports out of Los Angeles, transported both in the belly hold of the airline’s wide body A380 aircraft as well as through two Emirates Boeing 777-200F freighters each week. The vast majority of these exports are transported to Dubai and Kuwait. Emirates also facilitates transport of garments, automobiles, machinery, and agricultural cargo to the Middle East, as well as medical equipment to Mumbai.
“Our new flight will create more choices and shorter connection times for many passengers travelling via Dubai and onwards to Los Angeles and surrounding areas,” continued Frach. “Passengers wishing to travel beyond Los Angeles to nearby destinations in the U.S. can take advantage of our partnerships with Virgin America and Alaska Airlines. For example, through Alaska Airlines, passengers can connect from LAX to cities such as Medford, Mammoth Lakes, Monterey, Portland, and Santa Rosa.”
