Emirates to add non-stop Newark-Athens flights
Emirates will add Newark Liberty to its growing U.S. route map, making the New York City-area airport its 12th U.S. destination.
But Emirates’ Newark flights will not operate non-stop to its main hub in Dubai, but rather to the Greek capital of Athens. The flights will continue on to Dubai, operating with a stop in Athens in each direction.
The Newark-Athens route will be Emirates' second to operate directly between the USA and Europe. It also flies non-stop from New York JFK to Milan. Those flights are in addition to the four daily round-trip flights Emirates operates between JFK and Dubai.
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The Athens service, which will begin March 12 and operate year-round on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER widebody jets, provoked U.S. rivals that allege Emirates and the two other large state-owned “Gulf carriers” benefit from unfair government support.
Emirates – along with Etihad of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar Airways of Qatar – have vigorously denied those claims and have largely pushed ahead with their U.S. expansion plans.
In fact, Emirates claimed to be adding the Athens at the behest of the Greek officials.
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“The Greek Government and Athens International Airport approached Emirates some time ago to consider serving the route between Athens and New York,” Emirates president Tim Clark said in a statement. “After careful review, Emirates concluded that extending one of our Dubai-Athens flights to Newark would be commercially and operationally feasible. We are pleased to be able to help meet a strong consumer need long neglected by other airlines, and we would like to thank the authorities and our partners in both the U.S. and Greece for their support of the new route.”
Emirates’ U.S. rivals Delta and United each already fly nonstop to Athens from New York, but do so seasonally only during the summer. United serves Athens from its hub at Newark Liberty while Delta flies to Athens from its hub at New York JFK.
As for Emirates’ nonstop connections between the USA and Europe, such routes are allowed under “fifth freedom” aviation rights granted to airlines in countries with which the United States has a liberal “Open Skies” aviation pact. Specifically, those rights allow an airline to carry passengers between two foreign cities as long as the flight continues as one-stop service to that carrier’s home-country.
That is how Emirates is able to sell tickets on routings such as Newark-Athens-Dubai and JFK-Milan-Dubai.
There actually are a number of fifth freedom routes worldwide, including in the United States. A sampling of those includes:
New York JFK-Vancouver (Cathay Pacific)
Houston-Manchester, England (Singapore Airlines)
Los Angeles-Tokyo Narita (Singapore Airlines)
Los Angeles-Dublin (Ethiopian Airways)
Newark Liberty-London Heathrow (Air India)
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