Emirates Planning Milan Expansion, With Fun New Fifth Freedom Flights?!

While Emirates only has one primary hub in Dubai (DXB), the airline does operate some fifth freedom flights around the globe. It looks like the airline may be significantly growing its number of fifth freedom flights to the Americas, though only time will tell how this plays out. Emirates may launch Milan to Lima flights, and moreEmirates considers other fifth freedom Milan flights as wellBottom line Emirates may launch Milan to Lima flights, and moreItalian newspaper Corriere della Sera (which typically has very accurate reporting) shares that Emirates is very close to receiving permission to operate nonstop flights between Milan (MXP) and Lima (LIM). Say what now?!Emirates may launch flights from Milan to LimaFor context, fifth freedom flights are when airlines operate services between two countries other than their home country, and it requires regulatory approval (or being part of an Open Skies framework). For example, in the Americas, Emirates already has fifth freedom flights from Athens (ATH) to Newark (EWR), Barcelona (BCN) to Mexico City (MEX), Miami (MIA) to Bogota (BOG), and Milan (MXP) to New York (JFK). Emirates is now reportedly close to receiving permission to also add service from Milan to Lima.The idea is that this is an underserved market that doesn’t currently have nonstop flights, so the airport is keen to get more nonstop links, given the positive economic implications of more long haul service. Meanwhile Emirates has been trying to expand more into South America, though that’s not necessarily so easy in terms of aircraft range limitations.For example, the direct distance between Dubai and Lima is 9,645 miles, so that’s really pushing the range of any aircraft that Emirates flies, at least without major payload restrictions. Meanwhile by routing through Milan, the journey would be broken up into a 2,929-mile flight between Dubai and Milan, plus a 6,609-mile flight between Milan and Lima. Presumably the intent would be to serve both demand between Milan and Lima (one of Milan’s largest underserved long haul markets), as well as demand between Dubai and Lima. And of course there would be connectivity on both ends, for those traveling to or from either region.Let me emphasize that this isn’t yet a done deal. Regulatory approval is expected in the coming weeks, and then we’ll see if Emirates actually decides to launch this service in the foreseeable future.Emirates may add more fifth freedom flightsEmirates considers other fifth freedom Milan flights as wellThe story suggests that Emirates is also considering adding flights to several more destinations out of Milan. Airports under consideration reportedly include Los Angeles (LAX), Mexico City (MEX), Santiago (SCL), and Sao Paulo (GRU).With the exception of Milan to Sao Paulo (which is served by LATAM), all of those markets don’t currently have any nonstop service. So we’ll see what comes of this. I wouldn’t expect all of these routes to be operated by Emirates, but maybe we’ll see a couple launched over time.Ultimately Emirates has amazing economics and scale, so the carrier can make all kinds of services work that might not necessarily be profitable for other airlines. As stated above, the huge benefit of fifth freedom flights is also all the potential “funnels” you have for getting passengers, since you can sell seats on either sector, so it really helps with keeping load factors up.Emirates is considering other Milan routes as wellBottom lineEmirates is reportedly close to receiving permission to launch new fifth freedom flights out of Milan, with service to Lima expected to be the first new route. We’ll see if anything actually comes of this — clearly Emirates is interested, but that’s not to say it’ll actually happen.Beyond the Milan to Lima route, Emirates is also reportedly studying flights from Milan to Los Angeles, Mexico City, Santiago, and Sao Paulo, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this evolves.What do you make of Emirates possibly adding Milan to Lima flights, among other routes?