Emirates has started selling tickets for Moscow flights of another Dubai carrier, flydubai. At the same time, the capacity of Emirates' own flights to Moscow will be reduced slightly from the end of January.
Emirates has completed the placement of its code on all Russian flydubai flights. The last to receive it were both Moscow flydubai lines, Aviablogger.com reports. Now, a passenger wishing to buy an Emirates ticket via Dubai can choose any Moscow airport for departure: Emirates itself flies from Domodedovo, and flydubai flies from Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.
In total, this gives a good choice of departure times from Moscow - at 6:25 (from 25 March - at 8:25) flydubai departs from Sheremetyevo, at 14:40 flydubai from Vnukovo, at 17:10 and 23:50 Emirates from Domodedovo. The passenger can ultimately choose the most suitable connection in Dubai, whereas until now the choice of short connections was mainly limited to night and early morning flights from Dubai.
The same applies on the return journey — a passenger travelling from anywhere to Moscow via Dubai is no longer limited to two Emirates flights from Dubai at 10:00 and 16:15 to Domodedovo. Those wishing to do so can also take flydubai flights at 09:10 to Vnukovo and 00:55 (from 25 March — at 03:00) to Sheremetyevo. If the ticket is purchased from Emirates, then Emirates baggage allowance applies on flydubai flights and complimentary in-flight meals are provided.
Please note that Emirates' website has not yet been fully adapted for selling tickets from Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo, and purchases may not be available. However, such tickets are already available from agents. In addition, Emirates and flydubai continue to sell direct flights Moscow-Dubai without further transfers to a third country separately.
Whether or not this is related to the new codeshare, Emirates' own offer on the Moscow route will be reduced in a month. From January 23, the first of two flights (departure at 10:00 from Dubai and at 17:10 from Domodedovo) will again be served by a Boeing 777 instead of the double-decker Airbus A380, which was put on this route three months ago, on October 1. The exception will be peak flights - around holidays, during the World Cup and other similar cases, when the flight will be served by an Airbus A380.
This will reduce Emirates' own seat supply on the route by around 12-15%, with Business Class passengers getting a different cabin layout and, along with First Class passengers, losing the tail bar on these flights. And, for now, judging by the cabin maps, these are Boeing 777s without the upgraded seats.
Emirates did not elaborate on the reasons for the aircraft change. The company said it “continuously optimises its fleet across its network and the aircraft type used on any given route may change due to changes in demand or operational reasons.”
Previously, the Emirates EK code was placed on flydubai routes from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Mineralnye Vody, Kazan, Voronezh, Ufa and Makhachkala. This allows passengers from all these cities to buy Emirates connecting tickets with departure from Russia on flydubai flights and a transfer in Dubai to Emirates flights. Such flights can be, for example, Rostov - Dubai - Manila, Voronezh - Dubai - Buenos Aires and so on.
The connection in Dubai will take at least 2 hours due to the change of terminal. However, those who wish can make it longer and go into the city, as this no longer requires a visa in advance.
Source: travel.ru