As more and more countries put up travel bans and restrict entry to citizens and permanent residents, the demand for international air traffic plummets further. While numerous airlines had already announced large schedule cuts and flight suspensions, Emirates had been silent in the background. However, the airline released its own (very) lengthy list of flight suspensions last night. The magnitude of this schedule change could see the complete grounding of its Airbus A380 fleet.
The extensive list of suspensions
As reported on Emirates’ website, flights to the following destinations have been suspended:
- Abidjan (via Accra): From 21 March – 20 May
- Abuja: From 23 March – until further notice
- Accra: From 21 March – 20 May
- Adelaide: From 23 March – 20 May
- Ahmedabad: From 23 March – 28 March
- Algiers: From 18 March – 20 May
- Amman: From 17 March – 30 April
- Athens: From 23 March- 30 June
- Auckland (via Bali): From 29 March – 30 June
- Auckland: From 29 March – 30 June
- Baghdad: From 17 March – 30 April
- Bali: From 29 March – 30 June
- Bangkok–Hong Kong: From 9 March – 20 May
- Barcelona: From 20 March – 20 May
- Basra: From 17 March – 30 April
- Beirut: From 17 March – 30 April
- Bengaluru: From 23 March – 28 March
- Bologna: From 13 March – 20 May
- Brisbane: From 29 March – 30 June
- Brussels: From 26 March – 30 June
- Budapest: From 13 March – 20 May
- Buenos Aires (via Rio de Janeiro): From 25 March – 20 May
- Cairo: From 19 March – 30 June
- Casablanca: From 16 March – 30 June
- Cebu/Clark: From 29 March- 30 June
- Chennai: From 22 March – 28 March
- Chicago: From 27 March – 30 June
- Christchurch (via Sydney): From 29 March – 30 June
- Cochin: From 23 March – 28 March
- Colombo (via Male): From 23 March – 30 June
- Conakry: From 22 March – 19 May
- Dakar (via Conakry): From 22 March – 19 May
- Dammam: From 09 March – 30 April
- Delhi: From 22 March – 28 March
- Dhaka: From 22 March – 31 March
- Dubai–Colombo: From 19 March – 25 March. During this time, passengers can only travel from Colombo to Dubai as directed by Sri Lankan authorities.
- Dubai–Hanoi: From 18 March – 22 March. During this time, passengers can only travel from Hanoi to Dubai as directed by Vietnamese authorities.
- Dubai–Ho Chi Minh: From 18 March – 24 March. During this time, passengers can only travel from Ho Chi Minh to Dubai as directed by Vietnamese authorities.
- Dubai–Mauritius: From 20 March – 2 April. During this time, passengers can only travel from Mauritius to Dubai as directed by Mauritian authorities.
- Durban: From 24 March – 20 May
- Dusseldorf: From 23 March – until further notice
- Edinburgh: From 25 March – 30 June
- Fort Lauderdale: From 13 March – 30 June
- Frankfurt: From 23 March – until further notice
- Geneva: From 23 March – 30 June
- Guangzhou: From 05 February – 30 April
- Hamburg: From 23 March – until further notice
- Hanoi: From 23 March – 30 June
- Harare (via Lusaka): From 20 March – 20 May
- Ho Chi Minh: From 25 March – 30 June
- Houston: From 27 March – 30 June
- Hyderabad: From 22 March – 28 March
- Islamabad: From 22 March – until further notice
- Istanbul (IST): From 17 March – 20 May
- Istanbul (SAW): From 17 March – 20 May
- Jeddah: From 16 March – 30 April
- Kabul: From 26 March – 30 June
- Karachi: From 22 March – until further notice
- Khartoum: From 18 March – 20 May
- Kolkata: From 23 March – 28 March
- Kuwait City: From 14 March – 30 April
- Lagos: From 23 March – until further notice
- Larnaca: From 17 March – 20 May
- Lahore: From 22 March – until further notice
- Lisbon: From 19 March – 30 April
- London Stansted: From 25 March – 30 June
- Luanda: From 22 March – 20 May
- Lusaka: From 20 March – 20 May
- Lyon: From 23 March – until further notice
- Madrid: From 18 March – 20 May
- Malta (via Larnaca): From 17 March – 20 May
- Medina: From 05 March – 30 April
- Melbourne (via Singapore): From 23 March – 20 May
- Melbourne: From 29 March – 30 June
- Mexico City (via Barcelona): From 20 March – 20 May
- Milan: From 15 March – 20 May
- Moscow: From 30 March – 30 June
- Mumbai: From 22 March – 28 March
- Munich: From 23 March – until further notice
- Muscat: From 22 March – 05 April
- New York EWR (via Athens): From 13 March – 20 May
- New York EWR: From 24 March – until further notice
- New York JFK (via Milan): From 11 March – 20 May
- New York JFK: From 24 March – until further notice
- Newcastle: From 25 March – 30 June
- Nice: From 23 March – until further notice
- Orlando: From 24 March – 30 June
- Osaka: From 26 March – 30 June
- Oslo: From 28 March – 30 June
- Paris: From 23 March – until further notice
- Peshawar: From 22 March – until further notice
- Phnom Penh (via Bangkok): From 29 March – 30 June
- Phuket: From 29 March – 30 June
- Porto: From 17 March – 20 May
- Prague: From 25 March – 30 June
- Rio de Janeiro: From 25 March – 20 May
- Riyadh: From 16 March – 30 April
- Rome: From 15 March – 20 May
- Saint Petersburg: From 30 March – 30 June
- San Francisco: From 29 March – 30 June
- Santiago (via Rio de Janeiro): From 25 March – 20 May
- Shanghai: From 05 February – 30 April
- Sialkot: From 22 March – until further notice
- Stockholm: From 26 March – 30 June
- Taipei: From 16 March – 20 May
- Tehran: From 26 February – 30 April
- Trivandrum: From 22 March – 28 March
- Tunis: From 18 March – 20 May
- Venice: From 12 March – 20 May
- Vienna: From 23 March – 30 June
- Warsaw: From 15 March – 20 May
If you look carefully you’ll notice that flights to some destinations have already been suspended for nearly 10 days. Chinese destinations like Guangzhou and Shanghai are on the list but have had flight suspensions in place for over a month.
What does this mean for the Emirates fleet?
Emirates’ business model has been based on high-density, long-haul travel connecting passengers through its hub at Dubai International Airport. This is demonstrated with its massive fleet of Airbus A380s as well as Boeing 777-200s and -300s.
Because of this, the airline is limited in its ability to scale down its operations. Compared to physically larger countries, there is much less demand for domestic air travel within the borders of the UAE. It is a different case for nations like the United States, where domestic air travel still remains somewhat intact.
Therefore, this situation and its unprecedented impact on the aviation industry will hit airlines with Emirates’ type of business model particularly hard. Qatar Airways has already announced a significant slashing of its operations.
Last week we had reports of Emirates having to ground over 20 of its Airbus A380 aircraft. Now, with the announcement of additional flight suspensions, we may see the airline ground most if not all of its 115 superjumbos. This period of extremely low travel demand should mean that any operations that are still in place can be covered by its fleet of Boeing 777s.
Conclusion
While this information is accurate at the time of writing, the situation is fast-changing and is in a constant state of flux. Travelers are encouraged to check their flight status on the Emirates site through the booking management function.
Simple Flying reached out to Emirates to gather more information on aircraft groundings. However, no response was received at the time of publishing. We will update this article if any more information is received.
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