DUBAI: After more than one-year since Emirates Airlines stopped direct flights to New York on the A380 due to a lack of demand, the airline company announced this week it was resuming its double-daily JFK-Dubai route. “Last year was a difficult year for all airlines,” said Nigel Paige, Emirates' senior vice president of commercial operations for Africa and the Americas, in a press statement. “We were facing a tremendous loss in traffic, especially in business- and first-class, which were down about 50 percent.” Emirates had pulled the A380 from JFK in June 2009 after an initial nine-month run — and after the New York Port Authority reportedly spent $180 million to accommodate the oversize plane by fortifying runways, broadening taxiways and widening baggage areas. The Dubai-based company, along with Air France is the only carrier to fly the luxury jet into New York, comes after Emirates reported a net profit of $964 million for its Americas routes in 2009-2010, an 8.1 percent revenue increase. Here in Dubai, American expatriots are excited over the resumption of the route, saying it will ease their travel concerns and make returning to the US for holidays much easier. “I thank Emirates for doing this because for us, getting to New York is so important and making it easier will certainly get us going home more,” said Tanya Black, who hails from Ohio. BM
