Emirates increases capacity to San Francisco and Houston

Emirates is adding passenger and cargo capacity in San Francisco and Houston on December 1st and 3rd respectively when it switches from operating the routes with a Boeing 777-300ER to its iconic double-decker Airbus A380.
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The A380 will offer an additional 135 seats to San Francisco and 137 to Houston, representing a 38 percent increase in overall passenger capacity, and 80 percent more seats across the premium cabins. In addition to offering a choice of 14 First Class Private Suites and 76 lie-flat Business Class seats, the aircraft offers 399 spacious Economy Class seats to San Francisco and 401 to Houston. 

“Emirates continues to see strong customer demand from our U.S. gateways. Since 2007, we have carried over 2.3 million passengers on the San Francisco and Houston routes, and our flagship A380 will allow us to connect even more people and facilitate trade between these important U.S. cities and the Middle East, India, Africa and beyond.” said Hubert Frach, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations West. “Everywhere we fly our A380, we receive a tremendously positive customer response, thanks to the unique, award-winning product and service which Emirates offers passenger in all cabins. We look forward to bringing this experience to our customers in San Francisco and Houston.” 

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: “Emirates increasing capacity to San Francisco and Houston comes on the back of its ever-growing demand from passengers to fly from Dubai to the US. 

“Both cities are huge commercial centers that provide not only provide high yield business traffic, but also the population around them also ensures a large groundswell of leisure and tourist traffic too.” 

Ahmad added: “Emirates is making the most of its dominance on flights to the US where American airlines are very reticent about serving the Middle East, and so consequently are missing out on a swathe of traffic potential. Emirates has found huge success in the USA and its likely that its position as a first choice airline from passengers will continue to robust as it is popular.” 

The Emirates service from San Francisco operates daily as EK226, departing San Francisco at 3:30PM and arriving in Dubai the following day at 7:25PM. EK 225 departs Dubai at 8:50AM and arrives at San Francisco International Airport at 12:50PM the same day. 

Emirates' daily flight EK211 to Houston departs Dubai at 9:30AM and arrives at 4:05PM. The return flight, EK212, takes off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 6:25PM and lands in Dubai at 7:05PM the next day.