Emirates - Europe to Dubai

[Darandio]

I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea about aircraft, airlines, scheduling and the like, but I am currently looking at something which is intriguing me.

A close friend is emigrating to Australia today with his young family and I decided I would like to follow the progress of his flight(s) on Flightradar. Currently on his first leg from Newcastle to Dubai, I have followed the flight so far, and have noticed that it seems like all other Emirates aircraft that have departed from Europe and now more or less in an orderly queue. At the moment I can count nine, coming from places such as Newcastle, Dublin, Glasgow, Birmingham, Heathrow, Gatwick, Prague, and Amsterdam and Paris. They have all taken off in the correct intervals to put them in this queue.

What I am wanting to know is whether it is as simple as having all of these flights land one after the other in order to have all passengers from Europe in place for the subsequent flights to Australia, or is it something more complicated like pathing in the sky?

Thanks in advance from the uneducated.

 

[WestCoast]

What I am wanting to know is whether it is as simple as having all of these flights land one after the other in order to have all passengers from Europe in place for the subsequent flights to Australia, or is it something more complicated like pathing in the sky?

Emirates operates a massive transfer hub in Dubai and a key flow for them is Europe to Australasia - so many flights from Europe are timed to enable good connections onto flights departing to Australia and New Zealand. Continental time zones are also an important factor to consider.

Emirates is one of the largest airlines on the 'kangaroo route' now, so large that Qantas (the national airline of Australia) are terminating their well established relationship with British Airways and entering into a partnership with Emirates instead.

 

[starrymarkb]

Indeed, it's not just Emirates, you'll notice that most non LCC carriers operate banks of flights to connect at their hubs...

You'll see several KLM Fokkers leaving the UK (and elsewhere in Europe) for Amsterdam around 6am to be in time for the first Transatlantic wave from Schiphol (which leaves about 10am CET) - similarly Flights to Africa and Asia tend to leave in the late afternoon/evening and use timezones to their advantage (ie they arrive early morning at their destination)