Thanks to an expanded air transport agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Canada, Emirates will add two additional weekly flight between Dubai (DXB) and Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) from April 20, 2023.
With the additional flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Emirates will now be offering daily service between the two cities. The Airbus A380-operated flights will bring about 2,000 additional seats, and will add more competition to Air Canada’s daily Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flight between the city pair.
Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim said:
“Emirates welcomes the expansion of the air services agreement between the UAE and Canada and we would firstly like to thank all stakeholders and authorities who were involved in this pivotal agreement that will provide a boost to the aviation and tourism sectors in both countries.
“We have been serving customers between Toronto and Dubai since 2007, and although the double-decker A380 aircraft has been operating the route since 2009, demand arising from leisure and corporate travellers, diaspora and students has consistently outstripped the allocated capacity. This enhanced agreement represents a turning point for us in our strategy to serve our customers better, by offering more choice and flexibility, and meet pent up demand across our growing network.”
The expanded air transport agreement comes as another lift after Emirates and Air Canada signed a codeshare agreement in 2022, allowing customers from Dubai to easily connect onto additional cities on AC metal including Ottawa, Winnipeg, Halifax, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton
Prior to the expanded bilateral agreement, each country was allowed 14 flights per week split between the relevant carriers. The new agreement allows 50% more flights, bringing that figure to 21 per week per country.
“The expanded agreement allows 21 flights per week for each country. This will permit 50 per cent more flights than the maximum number previously possible, facilitate new routes, and give airlines greater flexibility to accommodate changes in market demand.”
Currently Air Canada utilizes seven of those 21 flights. From the UAE side of things, Emirates’ updated schedule will bring their total to seven, while Etihad’s service from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Toronto-Pearson counts for an additional six.
With 8 remaining weekly slots, Emirates and Etihad have to potential to either expand it Toronto operations, or look elsewhere to big cities like Montreal (YUL) or Vancouver (VYR). Of course this will have to be agreed upon between the two carriers as Emirates has already exercised two more slots to Toronto.
From the Canada side, Canadian carriers have a lot of room to play with as 14 weekly slots are up for the taking. It’s unclear what strategy these carriers may have with regards to the UAE. Besides Air Canada, the agreement will make it easier for WestJet to add Dubai to its list of long haul routes out of Calgary if they decide to go that route.
[Featured Photo: Emirates]
