Emirates expands North American schedule with daily Mexico City flights

Citing growing demand for international travel, Emirates is beefing up its service to North America by adding more seats on a route that takes travelers from its Dubai headquarters through Barcelona en route to Mexico City. Service on the existing route will go from six days a week to seven.

The expansion, which officially began Thursday, is one of several steps the carrier is taking to grow its international presence after the pandemic put a damper on international travel demand during the last couple of years. Emirates also launched service to Tel Aviv, Israel, on Thursday.

As part of the service to Mexico via Spain, travelers will leave Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the very early morning hours and arrive by mid-morning at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). After a two-hour stop, the trip continues on to Mexico City International Airport (MEX), where travelers will arrive in the late afternoon.

The return trip involves an evening departure from Mexico City, with an overnight flight to Barcelona and a next-day afternoon layover of just under two hours in Barcelona. The final leg of the trip lands in Dubai just after midnight, so you move forward two days on the eastbound trip.

Related: How to get to (and stay in) Dubai using points and miles

Emirates will operate the service with its fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which features 38 business-class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, along with 264 economy seats.

This expansion is the latest step the airline is taking to build connectivity in response to growing customer demand and confidence amid the easing of international travel protocols, officials said.

On top of this service expansion and Emirates entering the Tel Aviv market, the airline also has plans to expand service to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, Argentina, starting Nov. 2.

Emirates points out that travelers — particularly those in its business-class seats — will have access to its "unmatched culinary experience in the skies," including regionally inspired multicourse menus.

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Related: A tale of two cabins aboard Emirates

Based on business-class ticket prices for the Mexico City-Barcelona-Dubai itinerary for the rest of the year, you'll generally end up paying between $5,200 and $5,400, no matter when you fly. As you can see, the stop is around two hours on the outbound and return trip.

If you'd like to take some time to see Barcelona, though, there are ways to configure your itinerary to allow for that. If you're going straight to Mexico, a business-class ticket on Emirates lets you enjoy the airline's lie-flat seats during the nearly 20 hours in the air.

If you want to book a business-class award flight using, say, American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou points on this itinerary, it would cost you 262,500 Emirates Skywards miles plus approximately $1,885 in taxes and fees.

Bottom line

We continue to see international flights being restored by both U.S. airlines and carriers based abroad. In a lot of cases, service is being expanded or added outright as international travel bounces back.

With Emirates expanding to daily service between Dubai and Mexico City (via Barcelona), there will now be more options for travelers looking to use the airline to get to Europe, the UAE or other parts of the world.