Emirates Brings Back Flights To Three US Cities (And Boosts Flight To Two Others)

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As things stand, Emirates offers non-stop services between Dubai and six major US cities. Starting from next month, Emirates will start to bring back a number of its previously-operated Americas routes which will see the airline will serving nine US destinations by the beginning of March. In addition, two of Emirates’ existing US routes will see services boosted.

Every time we get news of an airline bringing back a route that was shut down because of the pandemic it’s another sign that, very slowly, we’re pulling out of one of the darkest periods in aviation history. That makes it great to hear that Emirates is about to relaunch services to Seattle, Dallas, and San Francisco in the coming weeks.

Seattle

From 1 February 2021 Emirates will bring back non-stop flights between Dubai and Seattle which will operate 4x/week on the following schedule:

EK229 DXB 09:55 – 12:35 SEA (Mon, Wed, Sat & Sun)
EK230 SEA 16:05 – 18:40+1 day DXB (Mon, Wed, Sat & Sun)

The route will be operated by an Emirates 777-200LR aircraft equipped with 38 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 264 Economy Class seats (there’s no First Class cabin). This is a cabin configuration that Emirates first introduced in 2018 and offers a Business Class cabin with a 2-2-2 layout so it’s an improvement on the old 2-3-2 seating that Emirates Business Class still offers on a significant number of routes.

Dallas Ft Worth

Emirates will return to Dallas Ft Worth from 2 March 2021 but, initially at least, the airline will operate just 3 weekly flights. Here’s the proposed schedule:

EK221 DXB 10:05 – 16:20 DFW (Tue, Thu & Sat)
EK222 DFW 18:45 – 19:15+1 day DXB (Tue, Thu & Sat)

Just as with the airline’s Seattle route, a refurbished Emirates 777-200LR will operate between Dubai and Dallas Ft Worth so a First Class cabin will not be on offer. The Business Class cabin will, however, be better than it may otherwise have been.

San Francisco

2 March 2021 will also see the restart of Emirates’ flight between Dubai and San Francisco and for the time being, the route will be operated four times a week on the following schedule:

EK225 DXB 08:45 – 12:45 SFO (Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
EK2267 SFO 15:40 – 19:25+1 day DXB (Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)

Unlike the other two US routes that are being restarted, the Dubai – San Francisco route will be operated by an Emirates 777-300ER which comes in a 3-cabin layout. This particular aircraft will offer 8 First Class seats, 42 Business Class seats, and over 300 seats in Economy Class.

If you’re a fan of Emirates First Class this will be good news, but with the aircraft offering a sub-par 2-3-2 layout in Business Class (which may not even offer true lie-flat seating), this will be far from the most comfortable aircraft on which to travel in Business Class between San Francisco and the Middle East – the Qatar Airlines Qsuite will definitely be the way to go.

Emirates Will Boost Flights To Two Other US Cities

Not only is Emirates bringing back three of its US routes but, starting next month, it also plans to boost frequencies on two of the US routes that it currently operates.

From 1 February 2021, Emirates will operate 12 flights/week between Dubai and New York JFK (currently a 7x/week service)…

EK203 DXB 02:35 – 08:15 JFK (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun)
EK201 DXB 08:30 – 13:55 JFK (Daily)

EK204 JFK 10:40 – 08:10+1 day DXB (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun)
EK202 JFK 23:00 – 20:25+1 day DXB (Daily)

…and a daily service between Dubai and Los Angeles (currently a service operated 4x/week):

EK215 DXB 08:30 – 12:45 LAX
EK216 LAX 15:35 – 19:30 DXB

As things stand, all flights between Dubai and JFK are scheduled to be operated by a mix of A380 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (the A380 will be by far the better option for all cabins) while the flights between Dubai and LAX will be operated by a 777-300ER so while the First Class cabin on offer to/from LAX should be fine, the Business Class cabin will almost certainly be disappointing.

Bottom Line

Starting next month, Emirates is bringing back its routes to Seattle, Dallas/Ft Worth, and San Francisco and boosting its service frequencies to New York JFK and Los Angeles. By 2 March 2021, Emirates will be operating non-stop services between Dubai and nine US destinations.