Sky-high showers and 17-hour flights: 20 years of Emirates in New Zealand

On August 2, 2003, Emirates launched its first services to New Zealand.

Twenty years later, and the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates is one of the main airlines connecting Kiwis to the world, offering daily non-stop flights between Auckland and Dubai, and daily flights between Christchurch and Dubai via Sydney.

Emirates’ regional manager for New Zealand Chris Lethbridge spoke to Stuff Travel about how the airline’s operations in Aotearoa have evolved over the years.

The destinations

While these days many Kiwis experience Emirates on ultra-long-haul flights to Dubai and beyond, the airline got its start in New Zealand by offering short hops across the Tasman.

They arrived at a time when Air New Zealand and Qantas had been working to get a strategic alliance across the line, that would see them dominate the trans-Tasman routes. Emirates, which had been flying from Dubai to Australia since 1996, spied an opportunity to provide some much-needed competition.

“Having planes on the ground in Australia, it was a fairly easy decision for us to continue on to New Zealand,” said Lethbridge.

The airline launched its services to New Zealand with two daily flights to Auckland from Sydney and Melbourne, and in October 2003, added a third daily flight from Brisbane.

In July 2004, Emirates extended its reach to the South Island, offering flights from Melbourne to Christchurch.

The flights to Australia were key to the brand’s success at a time when few Kiwis would have had Dubai on their radar – the Burj Khalifa was just a twinkle in an architect’s eye; construction on what would become the world’s tallest building wouldn’t begin until the following year.

“Dubai was still a bit of an unknown,” said Lethbridge.

“We had to get people to experience our product. They could have a bit of a taste and go, ‘this is nice, I can fly with this airline to Europe’.”

The aircraft

In 2009, Emirates brought its flagship double-decker A380, the world’s largest passenger plane, to Auckland.

Auckland Airport had spent four years preparing for the superjumbo’s arrival, investing $50 million in widening its runway, taxiways and building a new pier at the international terminal that could accommodate an aircraft of its size.

Emirates initially operated the A380 between Auckland and Sydney, before rolling the aircraft out on other trans-Tasman routes.

In October 2016, it introduced the A380 on its Christchurch services, with more than 1000 plane spotters showing up to watch it touch down on the runway.

“It grew a fanbase very quickly,” Lethbridge said.

“Even now, people still talk about flying on the A380 as being something on their bucket list.”

The airline had been expanding its fleet of A380s and Boeing 777s, and had the right aircraft available for an ambitious new service – non-stop flights between Auckland and Dubai, which when the route launched in March 2016, was the longest in the world, with a scheduled flight time of 17 hours, 15 minutes (it would be later pipped by Qatar Airways’ Auckland to Doha route).

“When we introduced the flights, people in the industry were saying, ‘my clients will never fly 17 hours’ – six months later they were going, ‘I don’t want to stop anywhere’,” Lethbridge said.

Emirates initially operated the route using a Boeing 777-200LR, but it proved so popular that in less than a year, they had upgauged to the A380.

During the pandemic, Emirates operated the Auckland to Dubai route using the Boeing 777-300ER with a stop in Kuala Lumpur. It resumed the non-stop flights using the A380 in December 2022.

Emirates restarted its services from Christchurch to Dubai via Sydney using the A380 in March this year.

The cabin experience

From the moment the Emirates A380 touched down in New Zealand, Kiwis were keen to make the most of the flashy features found in the premium cabins – from the onboard bar, to the first class shower spa.

“They could have a shower on an Auckland to Sydney flight if they wanted,” Lethbridge said.

“They could sit at the bar and have a drink and experience that real luxury, on a three-hour flight.”

Now, Kiwis flying on an Emirates A380 have another cabin option. In March this year, New Zealand became the first country to operate the airline’s new four-class A380, fitted with premium economy cabins, across all its services.

The new premium economy seats are part of the airline’s US$2 billion upgrade that will see every cabin class refreshed, as well as new dining options (including a new vegan menu).

The uniform

The Emirates uniform is instantly recognisable, with its red pillbox hats and white scarves that have been worn by flight attendants since the airline’s inception in 1985.

“I remember when we first flew here and the crew would walk through the terminal, everyone would just stop and look in amazement,” Lethbridge said.

The current uniform has been worn since 2009, when it was introduced to coincide with the launch of the airline’s A380 fleet.

Turns out, flying to New Zealand was a key consideration in its design. According to Simon Jersey, the company which created the uniform, designers accompanied a crew all the way to Aotearoa, observing them at work throughout the flight so they could come up with a design that combined style and function.

To this day, it remains “iconic”, Lethbridge said.

“We don’t need to change a component of our business we know works really well.”