By Bindu Suresh Rai

It was amidst fanfare and the traditional water salute that saw Emirates touch down into Boston on March 10 on the airline’s inaugural flight into its eighth US destination.



Travelling aboard the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft was Emirates President Tim Clark, who later addressed awaiting dignitaries, which included the Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, saying that an A380 could very well take off for the Boston skies within a year.



Clark said: “Keeping in mind the size of demand, the markets, our Jet Blue partnerships, we could see an A380 within a year in Boston if Logan International Airport gives us the permissions.”



He continued: “The US is a strong market for us and it is at its most optimistic point. The market is enormous. Even this small 777 we travelled on here today was two seats shy of being full, with 264 passengers from across 39 destinations travelling on the debut flight.”



Clark also revealed that forward bookings on the Boston sector were high, adding: “Short of a few weeks in May, the bookings are already full and summer looks very strong. We may need a bigger plane on this route very soon.”



Drawing reference to Emirates’ codeshare agreement with Jet Blue, which also launched three flights between Boston and Detroit from March 10, Clark said that several of the passengers on EK237 were also taking advantage and will continue to enjoy greater connectivity to other gateway cities across the US with its Open Skies agreement.



Emirates will fly a daily nonstop service to Boston, with EK237 departing at 9.45am, with arrival in the US at 3.15pm. The return flight, EK238 takes off from Boston at 10.55pm and lands in Dubai at 7.10pm the following day.



The airline has already announced its ninth US destination as August 5, when Emirates will take off for Chicago.



Clark did not rule out future US destinations, saying that when the time comes, the airline will make the announcements.

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