Emirates Will Restart Athens – Newark Service In June

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At the beginning of the year, Emirates announced that it would be restarting three of its suspended US routes in the first quarter of this year and that it would be boosting services to New York and Los Angeles as well. Now, the Middle Eastern carrier has confirmed that it will be continuing to bring back suspended services and that it will resurrect its route to Newark (via Athens) in June.

From 1 June 2021, the Emirates service between Dubai and Newark that has a stopover in Athens will be making a reappearance in the schedules. The route will be brought back as a daily service operated by a Boeing 777-300ER on the following schedule:

EK209 DXB 10:50 – 15:00 ATH 17:35 – 21:20 EWR (Daily)
EK210 EWR 23:55 – 16:05+1 day ATH 18:05+1 day – 23:35 DXB (Daily)

For anyone hoping that Emirates may fly a refurbished 777-300ER to Newark, I’ve got bad news. The seat maps currently viewable on ExpertFlyer show a First Class cabin with 8 seats (which confirms that this isn’t an aircraft with the stunning new First Class Cabin) and a Business Class cabin with a 2-3-2 seat layout (meaning that this is the old Emirates Business Class cabin).

This is the same aircraft that operated this route before it was suspended (thanks to the pandemic) so this isn’t a downgrade…but it’s still a shame to see an outdated Business Class cabin still being offered across the Atlantic.

Awards

The resumption of Emirates’ service to Newark via Athens means that we’re getting back a sweet spot for Emirates award redemption. The cheaper (Saver) Fares can only be booked for roundtrip travel but they still can offer very good value:

• Roundtrip Business Class between Newark & Athens – 90,000 miles
• Roundtrip First Class between Newark & Athens – 135,000 miles

If you only need to book a one-way fare you’ll have to book a Flex Plus fare, but even these can offer a very good deal:

• One-way Business Class between Newark & Athens – 62,500 miles
• One-way First Class between Newark & Athens – 85,000 miles

This route offers one of the more affordable ways to try out the famed Emirates First Class cabin and service…although you will have to take into account the surcharges that Emirates charges on award bookings.

Note: Don’t forget that Emirates Skywards is a transfer partner of American Express, Citi, and Chase, so you don’t have to be a regular Emirates flyer or Skywards Miles collector to try these flights out. 85,000 Membership Rewards Points, ThankYou Points, or Ultimate Rewards Points would be enough to book a First Class one-way award.

Other Emirates USA Services

The resumption of Emirate’s service to Newark via Athens will see the airline operating to 10 destinations across the United States which include Seattle (restarted at the beginning of February), Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Washington DC, Dallas/Ft Worth (from 2 March), and San Francisco (from 2nd March).

Bottom Line

Emirates has announced that it will be bringing back its service between Dubai and Newark (with a stopover in Athens) from 1 June 2021. A little disappointingly, the airline will go back to offering the same inferior Business Class cabin that it offered on this route before the pandemic, but it’s still great to see one of the airline’s award sweet spots return for those of us hoping to book the Emirates First Class experience.