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Emirates is resuming flights to Edinburgh – and bringing a brand new A350

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Emirates has announced the resumption of flights from Edinburgh.

The first flight will be on 4th November.

The existing Emirates services from Glasgow will continue. The airline will be competing with Qatar Airways at Edinburgh for passengers to Asia and beyond. Etihad pulled out of Edinburgh in 2018 after three years.

Emirates A350

Flights from Edinburgh will operate daily. The times are:

  • Depart Edinburgh at 20.40, arriving in Dubai at 08.05
  • Depart Dubai at 14.50, arriving in Edinburgh at 19.05

The Edinburgh service will use an A350-900. This is an interesting move, with the aircraft being a brand new addition to the Emirates fleet.

It’s so new, in fact, that we don’t know what Business Class seat it will use.

Emirates has 65 x A350-900 aircraft on order which represents a 25% addition to its current 250-strong fleet. In the short term they will plug the gap caused by the long-delayed Boeing 777X, of which Emirates has over 200 on order, and in the long term they will provide capacity as the A380 fleet begins to be retired.

The first A350 is due to be delivered in August, with the first batch of 10 being in service by March 2025. All 65 are due to arrive by 2028.

The first batch are being delivered in a 3-class configuration (32 Business, 21 Premium Economy, 259 Economy) with no First Class. Premium economy is likely to be new or identical to Emirates’ premium economy seat on the A380, which we reviewed here.

We know that a new Business Class seat from manufacturer Safran is being developed for the A350 and the refurbished Boeing 777-300ER fleets. There are no images to date but the A350 seat map shows a staggered 1-2-1 configuration in the standard style, with the seat area alternating left and right from row to row to allow a cubby hole for your feet when sleeping.

It’s possible that it is the Safran seat being installed by Qantas on its A350 fleet. This isn’t bad at all as you can see below and includes a door:

Qantas A350 business class seat

The fleet will also feature enhanced wifi, which should be a major improvement on the current OnAir service.

As well as Edinburgh, the A350 is also scheduled for:

  • Bahrain from 15th September
  • Kuwait from 16th September
  • Ahmedabad from 27th October
  • Mumbai from 27th October
  • Bologna from 1st December
  • Lyon from 1st December
  • Muscat from 1st December
  • Colombo from 1st January 2025

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Category

Emirates and Emirates Skywards

Comments (59)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • BJ says:
    7 May7 May 06:44

    Normally I would be happy with any new option from EDI, particularly where it adds to competition. Not this time though, I’d much rather have seen the rumoured third daily Qatar rotation than this. If there was any truth in that hopefully QA will push ahead with it now. QA now seem settle on A350s for EDI too but they are with the old superdiamond cabins not qsuite. Lerhaps this Emirates return will see them zwitch tbe metal to compete with what will likely be a new better Emirates hard product.

    What I would rather see than either of these is a SE Asian carrier come to EDI, particularly CX but TG or SQ would be good too. This new Emirates flight or a third Qatar flight will make this even less likely.

    • Ben says:
      7 May7 May 08:27

      Emirates USP used to be good value, in exchange for changing planes, and some innovations, like class leading IFE. The new bizz seat appears like it will be to be me-too and they are no longer cheap/good value. I suppose F is still class leading, but the 350s don’t have it. Then, being outside of alliance and with a mean loyalty program….why pick Emirates?

      • BJ says:
        7 May7 May 08:51

        The value, poor FF and no alliance are the Emirates deal- brealers for me. Hopefully though this will see QR J fares from EDI fall back a bit towards the value they used to offer.

        • flyforfun says:
          7 May7 May 09:52

          Are they still doing code-shares with Qantas? Might be useful for some if you can still get the QF code and put your miles to BA.

          • Fraser says:
            7 May7 May 12:55

            I usually have a work trip from EDI to DXB in October so this is just too late, but given my work trips are economy only I guess this means I will “have to” fly BA via LHR or QA via Doha and earn some tier points instead 😛

          • BJ says:
            7 May7 May 17:56

            Good point but may only apply for flights to Dubai or Australia.

  • LittleNick says:
    7 May7 May 07:21

    I wish BA would get some (if not 65x A350-900s) on order. Atm they have none of this variant, shame really

    • TGLoyalty says:
      7 May7 May 07:56

      They have 18 of the larger A350-1000.

      What’s special about the 900 that it’s a shame they don’t have the 7m shorter version?

      • BJ says:
        7 May7 May 08:32

        Ì cannot put my finger on exactly why but it’s my second favourite aircraft behind the A380. It just feels right/nice, a better cabin than its main competitor the 787. It feels to me noticeably karger and more spacious and I prefer the windows and bins. There is something about the shape if the fuselage, size, shape and positioning of the windows on 787s I find less pleasing. I also think the A350 is quieter than the 787 which is curious as I think data suggests the 787 is actually quieter. Perhaps it is more to do with the nature of the sound rather than the volume. Would be interested to kniw what others think. I like both A350s and 787s a lot but given the choice I’d choose the A350 every time.

        • LittleNick says:
          7 May7 May 08:38

          Agreed +1 BJ, the A350 I think is my current favourite aircraft to travel on from a customer experience viewpoint. Seems very quiet to me and prefer the smaller cabin vs the A380.
          I think 18 350-1000’s is still insufficient, would love to see more of these aircraft dominate the BA fleet on more mid and longer haul routes.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            7 May7 May 08:46

            My question was why this variant

            Seems like you actually meant just more A250.

            With 777x delays that might happen but I think they chose to convert 787-10 options instead of order more A350 last year

          • BJ says:
            7 May7 May 09:04

            @TGL, I took it LittleNick just meant more A350s, and that when we see many airlines ordering whole fleets of A3570s and /or 787s then it is dissapointing that IAG/BA order small amounts of this and that from time to time resulting in a very mixed-bag fleet. I think there is a lit to be daid for airlines like AY where you can be confident they offer both very modern fleets with uniform products.

        • Norsksaint says:
          7 May7 May 10:23

          +1 agree, used to fly QR OSL-DOH-SYD a lot and managed to fly most of the aircraft QR fly in that time. A350 was always my favourite out of SYD, and then A380 to SYD. Never enjoyed seeing it was a 787 rostered on the OSL-DOH route. Something to do with noise, that the aircraft felt cheap and rattled a lot, but who knows.

    • Richie says:
      7 May7 May 09:29

      BA’s long haul fleet is a bit of a mess really, too many variants. A359s would’ve been better than B789s.

      • Nick says:
        7 May7 May 10:09

        BA’s strategy is to play Airbus and Boeing off against each other, it comes down to who offers the best value over the expected life of the aircraft. Ultimately recently Boeing have been more desperate for orders so they undercut and win.

        There’s also a sizeable issue in that for some reason HAL don’t really like 351s – they’re being difficult about certifying some stands for it so growth is limited as they can’t fit into the operation. I’m sure that’ll be fixed eventually though. 359s have been ruled out for BA LHR as they’re too small given the premium heavy config required.

        All of which is a massive shame as they’re the best aircraft by miles, and from every perspective too – passenger feedback, flight crew, efficiency, reliability, etc.

        • Richie says:
          7 May7 May 10:19

          HAL can be build LHR T2 without a baggage facility and then spend £Ms sorting the problem at a much later date. Stand issues are unsurprising.

          • Richie says:
            7 May7 May 10:27

            *HAL can build

          • JDB says:
            7 May7 May 13:23

            @Richie – that was hardly HAL’s choice! The complexity of the works now required even to get to putting in the T2 baggage system is a nightmare.

        • jjoohhnn says:
          7 May7 May 10:22

          I’m not sure the A350 is deemed great from every perspective. There have been very public issues with the A350 galley configuration used by BA not working, and also that the configuration actually stops them using the A350 on the longest routes due to lack of space to store food in the galleys!

          https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2022/02/05/british-airways-admits-its-reevaluating-configuration-of-flagship-airbus-a350-jets-and-a380s/

          • Rhys says:
            7 May7 May 10:23

            That’s a BA problem, though, and not an A350 problem. BA chose to squeeze more seats in and reduce galley space, not Airbus.

          • jjoohhnn says:
            7 May7 May 10:44

            Presumably its a generic A350 ICE problem.. Who else went for that galley config?

        • Rhys says:
          7 May7 May 10:24

          What’s the issue with the 351 at Heathrow? Surely it can’t be very different to the many 777-300ERs that fly in every day? ARe they just being lazy in repainting the parking marks on the stand?!

      • Ben says:
        7 May7 May 10:30

        They also want to sweat the balls off the 772s. If they have retrofitted them all [at LHR] with CS when they are all already 20years+ kinda tells you their thinking.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          7 May7 May 15:53

          They had plans to replace them with 777x which is delayed about 5 years also a 20+ year old aircraft isn’t even that old. 747’s were hitting their 40’s

  • Sam says:
    7 May7 May 09:03

    If only the Emirates NCL flights had timings like that!

    • BJ says:
      7 May7 May 09:11

      Schedule is good, they likely tried to avoid diretctu competition with the morning or lunch time QR rotations.

      • Axel says:
        7 May7 May 09:46

        Yes Emirates are bullish offering flights 7 days a week., It also means lounge opening times and food will be extended.

        Emirates are one of the few longhaul airlines I would consider to fly Economy, though Im trying to renew my Qatar Goldctatus over the next 12 months.

      • Andrew. says:
        7 May7 May 09:58

        Would EDI be able to cope with another lunchtime departure times of a “large” aircraft? It’s already a pretty busy time with them with the transatlantics.

        Interestingly two United departures to Chicago today. The usual one at 11:30 and a second one at 13:00

        • Stu_N says:
          7 May7 May 10:14

          The impact of the US flights is less than you’d think. A long haul 757 (United 757-200 176 seats) or 767 (Delta 767-300 226 seats) is about the same number of seats as a short haul A320 and A321 respectively.

        • Pauline says:
          7 May7 May 16:59

          The 13.00 was a replacement for yesterday’s cancelled flight and was in the end cancelled leaving the passengers from yesterday scrambling to try to find alternative flights as the other flight was full

  • Chris W says:
    7 May7 May 09:43

    I’m surprised to hear Emirates couldnt make EDI work previously if Qatar could.

    Surely Edinburgh is the most popular tourist destination in Scotland?

    • The real Swiss Tony says:
      7 May7 May 10:12

      But EDI and GLA are so close together (if you’re flying for 12+ hrs) that it arguably makes little difference.

      And given GLA is struggling in terms of passenger numbers whereas EDI isn’t I can quite imagine Glasgow has been very keen to cut EK a good deal over the last couple of years.

    • Nick says:
      7 May7 May 10:13

      EK didn’t want to cannibalise their own longstanding GLA flights. There aren’t many cities 45 mins apart that can both sustain longhaul flights to the same destination.

    • CJD says:
      7 May7 May 11:39

      Depends where you’re going in Scotland I suppose. If the purpose of your visit is for the Western Highlands then GLA is a much more convenient airport.

      • CJD says:
        7 May7 May 11:46

        And to add to this, if the main commercial purpose of the route is to get passengers to Dubai rather than Scotland then GLA works as Glasgow’s metro area population is much bigger than Edinburgh’s.

        • Fraser says:
          7 May7 May 12:58

          Depends on the sector, most financial/legal will be from Edinburgh and I’d certainly rather avoid 2 hours / £150 of taxi and fly straight in/out of EDI than connect in Glasgow, especially on the return flight.

      • JamesR says:
        7 May7 May 12:58

        Also to add to this, with EDI situated West of Edinburgh, EDI is better connected to Glasgow (particularly Eastern towns and Central belt) than GLA is to Edinburgh (as GLA is situated on the West of Glasgow).

  • RedFox says:
    7 May7 May 14:27

    Edinburgh is an awful passenger experience. Too busy and bursting at the seams.
    The security hall is a mess.

  • ScotLAN says:
    7 May7 May 15:20

    Agreed – Glasgow is a much nicer airport to transit through, a shame that it’s lost most of the transatlantic flights to the mess that is EDI.

  • dst87 says:
    7 May7 May 16:18

    Interesting to hear negative feedback about EDI. I’ve generally found flying out of Edinburgh a breeze. Walking through security from the multi story car park is delightful, and I’ve never found security (albeit fast track security) to be an issue at all – though I look forward to new scanners!

    As TGLoyalty mentioned, the Plaza Premium lounge is normally great and mostly been fairly quiet when I’ve visited.

    The new drop-off / pick-up is much nicer than the GLA equivalent too. I had to drop someone off in GLA last weekend and the signage and routes are far less clear than at EDI.

    • BP says:
      7 May7 May 16:31

      Dropoff at Glasgow is reasonably clear, it’s the £5.50 dropoff charge that irritates me.

      • Andrew. says:
        7 May7 May 20:30

        Still 30 minutes free drop-off (or pick-up) at EDI in the long-stay. It’s about 4 minutes to the “EDINBURGH” sign.

    • Pauline says:
      7 May7 May 17:01

      Out is good – coming back is embarrassingly shabby

    • Andrew. says:
      7 May7 May 20:28

      Is there a separate “Fast Track” access from the Multi-Storey? I usually arrive by tram or get dropped off at the free drop-off so slip in the side door to the Fast Track.

      They had the new “leave it in” scanners at Fast track a fortnight a go.

  • SS says:
    7 May7 May 19:58

    Hope they improve the lounge experience with Emirates being introduced

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