Emirates has sadly delayed the return of Airbus A380 flights between Sydney and Christchurch, New Zealand.

A few months ago, Emirates had committed to resuming its Dubai-Sydney-Christchurch route from 1 December 2022. But a recent schedule update now sees the fifth-freedom route returning from 27 March 2023 instead – four months later than previously planned.

Until a few days ago, Emirates had been selling tickets on the Sydney-Christchurch leg of its EK412 and EK413 services for travel dates from December 2022. This service is currently running between Dubai and Sydney, but is terminating in Sydney with the A380 parking at Sydney Airport for most of the day (instead of continuing to New Zealand and back).

Emirates began flying its new A380 Premium Economy product between Sydney and Dubai at the start of this month. Emirates had also planned to operate Premium Economy on its Sydney-Christchurch service from December.

Prior to the pandemic, Emirates flew multiple fifth-freedom routes out of Australia including Sydney-Christchurch, Melbourne-Singapore, Brisbane-Singapore and Sydney-Bangkok. The Sydney-Christchurch route is the only one that Emirates has committed to bringing back (albeit later than expected).

LATAM Airlines and Qatar Airways currently offer their own fifth-freedom flights across the Tasman, from Sydney and Adelaide to Auckland respectively. AirAsia X will soon begin Kuala Lumpur-Sydney-Auckland flights.

Now for the good news…

The good news is that Emirates is still scheduling the return of non-stop Auckland-Dubai flights on the Airbus A380 from 1 December 2022 (at least for now). This route is currently being served by Boeing 777s, with a stop in Kuala Lumpur.

Emirates has also just announced that it will upgrade its Perth-Dubai route from a Boeing 777-300ER to an Airbus A380 from 1 December.

Last month, Emirates reopened most of its Australia airport lounges.

Meanwhile, Emirates has just announced that it will refurbish around half of its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleets over the coming years with refreshed seating and upgraded cabin interiors. Premium Economy cabins will be installed on these aircraft as part of the upgrade.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: SYD to CHC A380 Flights Cancelled

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.