Emirates Announces Flights To Santiago, Chile

Real World Aviation
#1

This month, the well-known, world class airline Emirates announced their new flight operations to the capital city of Chile, Santiago.

The flight, EK263, will fly five times weekly to Santiago (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), via Sao Paulo, Brazil (SBGR/GRU). This flight is an addition to the current flight EK261 operated by the A380 to Guarulhos airport daily. The flight will leave Dubai at 9 in the morning local time, arriving in Sao Paulo at 5 in the afternoon, arriving in Santiago a little before ten at night. EK264 will depart Santiago at one in the morning, arriving just before 6 AM in Brazil, before leaving at 7:45 AM to the United Arab Emirates.

Emirates 263 will be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR in a two class configuration, with 264 seats in Economy and 38 in Business, in a 2-2-2 seat layout.

The flight will be inaugurated in the 5th of July, this year.

Sources (I apologise two of them are in spanish):

http://www.emol.com/noticias/Economia/2018/01/31/893335/Aerolinea-Emirates-aterriza-en-Chile-con-vuelo-entre-Dubai-y-Santiago-desde-julio.html

https://fly4.emirates.com/CAB/IBE/SelectPrice.aspx

My Opinion:

In my opinion, this is great news. Santiago keeps receiving new traffic every year. A new world class airline arriving in Santiago is great stuff, and I look forward to witnessing the Emirates 777-200LR parked here.
However, I think there are a few bad things. For starters, the outbound flight to Dubai from Santiago is a terrible flight, for the simple reason that it leaves at 1 AM, arriving at 6 in Sao Paulo (a 4 hour flight). The inbound flight is not too bad, but arriving at 21:40 is not very convenient for many people.
And also, you have to ask yourself if the airport can handle it. SCEL is already collapsed. During the morning rush, it is completely unbearable. It is not a very big airport, and the terminal is certainly not the best. Of course, this flight actually arrives during the night, but there is still a significant amount of traffic at that time. There is a new terminal under construction, but it is plagued with delays and is still a long time ahead.

So, what’s your opinion? Do you think this is a smart move?

6 Likes
#2

Smart move by Emirates for sure. I’m almost 100% sure they just want another GRU frequency(It’s a 5th freedom right?)

Honestly SCL can have more links to India and other central Asian cities through emirates. Not a bad choice.

For the timing: 1am is a great red eye imo so not a problem. The 10pm arrival should also not be a problem, transit operate until 1130 at least in most countires(Not sure about Chile)

1 Like
#3

I have a feeling Emirates is going to partner with an airline who operates in South America. That way, their Santiago flights will be used more as a gateway to South America than a direct flight to Santiago. I can’t see enough demand on this route without it being used as a connecting hub, so that seemed like their only alternative.

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#4

I knew it. SCL could not be left untouched. Seems like an excellent decision from Emirates.

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#5

I see it easily filling up imo, it’s not daily and is operated by the smaller LR variant of the 777 which has less then 300 seats total. Great to see Emirates expanding into South America!

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#6

It’s a neat route, but I agree with your point of airport issues. It’s pretty congested in there already.

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#7

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/02/01/emirates-santiago-flight/

Maybe next time provide links for other people that don’t speak the language that the articles are in.

This is really nice otherwise, too bad not to see them finally going to Panama.

1 Like
#8

I’m not sure. You’d have to check.

I disagree. For someone wanting to go to Sao Paulo, 1 AM is terrible. Perhaps, someone staying for the flight to Dubai won’t think that, but I have a feeling most of the traffic will be SCL-GRU and GRU-DXB, not SCL-DXB.

They do have some codeshare with GOL, if you click the link in the OP (the bottom one) you’ll see.

Very much a possibility. Much the same way Turkish Airlines, Qatar and Emirates (and Ethiopian in the future) fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina as a continuation of their flights to Rio and Sao Paulo.

302, so more than 300.

Yeah I’m sorry I couldn’t find any.

3 Likes
#9

Well, looks like I could try to do this new route in IF.

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#10

I thought the exact same thing when I found out. I hope one day I fly it too!

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#11

Cathay has routes that leave at 1am and land at 4/5am in Korea/Singapore/Japan. All of them are full. Definitely doable

#12

Hong Kong is a huge city and a hub for connections. Santiago is neither of them.

1 Like
#13

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