Gulf carrier Emirates is boosting its presence in Newark, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale as it adjusts its US services to better reflect commercial demand.
Newark Liberty International Airport is the big winner from the change but at the expense of fellow New York region airport JFK.
The carrier will introduce a new non-stop service between Newark and Dubai from June 1, adding to an existing daily one-stop flight via Athens, Greece.
The new service will be operated by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER, offering 8 suites in First Class, 42 seats in Business, 306 in Economy Class, and 19 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity.
Flight EK223 will depart Dubai at 3:00am and arrive in Newark at 9:00am with the return service departing Newark at 11:50am, arriving in Dubai at 08:20am the next day.
JFK loses a flight, EK207/208, reducing the number of services from the airport for four a day to three.
It will still operate two non-stop flights a day to Dubai and one via Milan, Italy.
The airline said the changes would leave the total number of Emirates flights serving the New York metropolitan area unchanged at five a day from June 1.
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The airline is also adding two flights each a week to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando after demand to the holiday destinations has steadily rebounded.
This means both cities return to daily flights. Orlando is home to attractions such as Disneyworld and Universal Studios while Fort Lauderdale is a port for cruise ships.
Emirates services 12 destinations in the US and its network of more than 80 ports includes 67 destinations not directly served by US carriers.
It noted its new Newark service would particularly benefit northern New Jersey travellers heading to Africa, the Far East, and the Indian sub-continent.
“This is a boon for ethnic communities such as the nearly 700,000 Indian Americans residing in the greater New York area, who will have one-stop access to nine Indian cities on Emirates’ global network,’’ it said.
