Emirates Expands China Schedule, Scales Up A380 Operations

Emirates is to increase flying to China ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and has announced plans to further scale up Airbus A380 operations.

The expansion of its Chinese network comes a week after Beijing dropped quarantine requirements for inbound passengers and ended restrictions on international flights under the “five-one” policy.

In response, Emirates said it plans to resume passenger routes from Dubai (DXB) to both Shanghai Pudong and Beijing Capital, as well as increase service to Guangzhou.

Shanghai returns to the Gulf carrier’s network from Jan. 20, starting with two flights per week using A380s. The outbound leg will be nonstop, while the return will operate via Bangkok (BKK).

Service will double to 4X-weekly from Feb. 2 operated by a three-class Boeing 777-300ER, before increasing to daily from March 1.

Emirates is also restarting daily passenger service to Beijing Capital from March 15 onboard 777-300ERs, while Guangzhou will see frequencies rise from four flights per week to daily from Feb. 1 using A380s. The airline currently operates the return leg from Guangzhou via Bangkok but will reinstate nonstop flights in both directions once frequencies become daily.