Airline Nation

If you are flying first class on Emirates you get to take a shower on board!

Delays in aircraft deliveries have not only forced Emirates to pushback start dates for two new California destinations, but have also constrained the number of flights offered by the carrier to those cities.

Emirates would like to operate its A380s from Dubai to Los Angeles or even Houston, although that would require flying fewer passengers on the A380. But CEO Tim Clark notes that at around 430 seats, it would still provide better operating economics than the Boeing 777-200LR now used on the route.

Emirates is looking to make its own contributions in reducing weight reduction by considering reducing cruise speed to Mach 0.83 from Mach 0.85 to reduce fuel burn. It is also in talks with Russia about more direct routes.

It will be available in the airline’s first-call cabin from October 1 on the Dubai to New York route. … Emirates has yet to reveal the details of its A380 first-class cabin but has promised it will be even more extravagant than Singaopre Airlines’ cabin.

Emirates said that the “first authorized mobile phone call made from a commercial flight” occurred yesterday aboard one of its A340-300s flying at 30,000 ft. en route from Dubai to Casablanca, marking the launch of its $27 million program to equip its fleet with the AeroMobile system that will allow passengers to use their own cell phones in flight. … Chairman and CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said, “All seats across our fleet are already equipped with in-seat phones, as well as e-mail and text messaging capabilities via the in-seat entertainment system. . .we are delighted to now offer them the choice of using their own mobile phones.”

Just three months after launching flights to Houston, its second U.S. gateway in the U.S. in addition to New York Kennedy, Emirates is expected on Thursday to announce that it will inaugurate new flights to Los Angeles this fall.

… The Los Angeles flights will be the longest in its network, taking 15 hrs. 55 mins. to fly to Los Angeles and 16 hrs. 35 mins. to return.

Dubai-owned Emirates airlines, the largest carrier in the Middle East, said on Sunday it would begin flying its fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos in October.

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines wants to double its order of 55 Airbus A380 super jumbo jets when airport capacity in its home base permits, its president Tim Clark said today.‘I want to double (the number of A380s on order)’ from the European aircraft maker, Clark told reporters.But ‘55 is the absolute number of aircraft we can [...]