Boosting Brisbane’s European connection
In an expansion of capacity between Europe and Brisbane, Emirates is today announcing it will move to double-daily flights between Dubai (DXB) and BNE, increasing the number of tourists flying into Queensland.
Emirates currently operates a daily A380 service to Brisbane. From June, this will be joined by an additional daily B777-300ER with 354 seats. The expansion will boost capacity through Brisbane by more than a quarter of a million seats per year both ways.
“This is a huge vote of confidence in the Brisbane and Queensland market. It effectively doubles overnight the Emirates capacity between the two cities, delivering more seats for major Middle East and European markets. In terms of rebuilding what was lost by covid, this is a significant brick in the wall,” according to Gert-Jan de Graaff, CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation.
“In October we will celebrate 20 years since Emirates began flying into Brisbane. Through the depths of the pandemic, the airline continued to provide a lifeline to repatriate Australians and enable crucial Queensland exports to continue.”
The expansion has been secured under the $200 million joint State Government and industry Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, which was created to boost Queensland’s tourism economy.
Queensland’s Acting Premier Steven Miles welcomed the injection of passenger and freight capacity by Emirates.
“The extra service is estimated to provide an additional 730 direct and indirect jobs for the state.
Emirates’ extensive worldwide network to over 130 destinations will ensure a high level of connectivity with the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and North America.”
Dean Cleaver, Emirates Regional Sales Manager says the restoration of the additional flight to Brisbane was a significant event. 
“Our second daily service to Brisbane begins as we proudly celebrate 20 years of flying to the Sunshine State. Not only will this service cater to the demand of Australians looking to travel overseas, but also welcome more travellers and tourists to enjoy Queensland, Australia’s tourism mecca.
“The additional service combined with our daily A380 to Brisbane means Emirates will offer almost 12,000 seats to and from Brisbane every week. This is another important milestone in the resumption of our Australian capacity and reaffirms our longstanding commitment to flying down under. We look forward to welcoming more Australians on board to enjoy the Emirates experience.”
Emirates will return to its pre-pandemic double-daily schedule with the B777-300ER arriving in Brisbane at 2220 and departing at 0250 to provide Queenslanders with timely two-way connections to and from Europe. The A380 will land at 0625 and depart at 2100.
Queenslanders flying to DXB will be able to connect to 75 cities across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The B777-300ER has significant freight capacity, offering Queensland exporters an additional capacity of 22 tonnes per day to send their products into Middle East and European markets, with beef exports likely to be popular.
Travelers can book on the new second daily service through emirates.com, the Emirates App, or via online and offline travel agents.
The additional service begins on June 1.