EMIRATES will not be launching its daily service to Durban from December 1 as announced last month.

“Commencement of the service to Durban from Dubai has been deferred until further notice. As a result, the scheduled daily EK774/775 flights effective December 1 are cancelled,” said Fouad Caunhye, regional manager Emirates South Africa, in a statement to TravelHub. He added that the decision was made after a routine review of the airline’s operations.

Emirates refused to make any further comment and said a new launch date for the flights had not yet been finalised. The airline said it was working on a newsletter that would be sent out to the trade.

Dinesh Naidoo, marketing director of Serendipity Tours, which had allegedly made over R2m in bookings on Emirates’ Durban flights, claims Emirates staff didn’t even know about the flight cancellations. He said this had had a huge impact on business from Durban as passengers had been initially booked to depart Johannesburg, but were rescheduled following Emirates’ announcement that it was launching flights to Durban. “Now these passengers have to be rescheduled for a second time,” he says.
One of the conditions of Emirates being granted additional frequencies to South Africa was that it launched a flight to Durban.

Rumours are rife as to why the flights are being postponed.  Some industry pundits say it is due to a shortage of aircraft, claiming manufacturers have pushed back delivery of the airline’s new aircraft. Others suspect it is related to the oil price.