Emirates to use flexible routes and take advantage of tailwinds to achieve flight efficiency to Auckland

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DUBAI, 23rd February, 2016 (WAM) -- Emirates Airlines first non-stop service between Auckland and Dubai will be one of the longest air routes in the world by distance, but with the assistance of clever technology and good planning, passengers will get to their destination in the shortest possible time.

The airline starts its first non-stop service from Dubai to Auckland on 1st March 2016, bringing many of Emirates 39 European destinations, as well as 38 cities in Africa and the Gulf, within just a one-stop connection in Dubai.

The new non-stop service will be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR and should typically take just under 16 hours from Dubai to New Zealand and 17 hours, 15 minutes in the other direction.

"Emirates continues to invest in innovative technologies, and we utilise best practices in optimising our flight planning systems, finding the best routes that take into consideration weather and current conditions to ensure we save time, fuel and emissions, while never compromising on the safety and comfort of our passengers and crew," said Geoff Hounsell, Emirates VP Flight Operations Support Services and Air Traffic Management.

"Preparing for a new 14,000km flight takes an enormous amount of planning. With the work being done across all our divisions and with our partners, we look forward to delivering technical best practices within flight and route operations, and ultimately, a great passenger experience for our upcoming direct flight launch to Auckland," he said.

New flexible route options have been a focus for the airline, and Airservices Australia and Airways New Zealand have been key partners.

The majority of the Boeing 777-200LR flight will be over Australian-managed airspace, where Emirates has worked with Airservices Australia for the past decade to optimise routes, utilising the technology which will be applied on the direct Auckland route. Airservices Australia safely controls 11 percent of the worlds airspace.

"A number of our air traffic control and environmental specialists have worked with Emirates flight planning team to help find them the most optimal east and west-bound routes which will link the flight into our existing Flex Tracks and user preferred route zones," said Executive General Manager, Air Traffic Control, Greg Hood.

"Airservices Flex Track and UPRs will help Emirates realise significant savings in fuel, reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the flight time with seasonal and daily variations based on the positioning of jet stream winds," said Hood.

Airways New Zealand chief operating officer, Pauline Lamb, said that air traffic controllers are looking forward to welcoming the Emirates Boeing 777-200LR into the region. Airways manages more than 1.2 million air traffic movements per year within 30 million square kilometres of airspace across New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea.

"Emirates will benefit from Airways capability to offer new fuel-efficient arrival routes into Auckland and a high degree of flexibility using very efficient user-preferred routing, including the ability to review and change flight paths during the flight. This will allow Emirates to choose the most fuel and cost efficient routes every time," said Ms. Lamb.