Emirates Flight EK328, Fourth Chinese Mainland Gateway Now Open

Emirates has a soft spot, as every airline does, for countries that drive high passenger and cargo volumes. As of 2020, China was very high on the list. Since then, traffic has been somewhat suppressed with some difficulties in recovering prior volumes. Emirates is giving it another go by expanding its reach to a new, fourth destination in mainland China. EK328 now links Emirates’ base of Dubai DXB airport to Shenzhen.

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Route Details and Flight Schedule

China is strategic to Emirates as it is both a high passenger and cargo demand-generating country. That makes it a perfect match for the Dubai-based airline’s operations. Shenzhen (SZX airport code), particularly, is located just over the Hong Kong mainland China border, and is home to a huge number of manufacturing companies that produce goods for multinational brands.

In other words, this landscape creates demand for express shipping of valuable goods and moving higher-level corporate management staff.

So much is this type of traffic valuable to the airline and expected in good volumes that Emirates has regarded the route to be worthy of a daily flight right from day one.

EK328, Emirates’ new flight to Shenzhen, launched July 1^st, 2025, and will be featured year-round in Emirates’ schedule and route network. Ahead of the maiden trip, Emirates and local authorities hosted a gala event further underlining the importance of this new Dubai-China daily flight.

Emirates Flight EK328: Times and Aircraft Type

The flight is, like all Emirates flights, optimized to incentivize and facilitate connections and onward travel. The departure out of Dubai is part of the second morning wave of outbound flights, while the return flight lands back at Emirates’ DXB base in time for the first morning wave of outgoing flights.

• EK328 departs Dubai (DXB) at 10:05 with arrival at Shenzhen (SZX) at 22:00.
• EK329 departs Shenzhen (SZX) at 23:55 with arrival at Dubai (DXB) at 03:40 the following morning.

Aircraft type for Flight EK328 is one of Emirates 120 Boeing 777s. We’ll dive deeper into that topic shortly.

Shenzhen Becomes Emirates’ Fourth Chinese Mainland Destination

Flying to Shenzhen for Emirates is not only the opening of a new route, but it is the gateway to the heart of one of the country’s high-tech districts. Flight EK328 is the fourth to mainland China (Hong Kong is not part of that list as it still figures as a SAR (Special Administrative Region)

Emirates-China Network Overview

Emirates’ Chinese route network has evolved significantly over the years. Since the airline’s first service to the country in the early 2000s, Emirates’ Chinese route network has expanded to include four destinations, with Hong Kong having been served since 1991.

As of July 2025, with the launch of the Flight EK328 to Shenzhen, destinations served by Emirates include:

• Beijing (PEK)
• Shanghai (PVG)
• Guangzhou (CAN)
• Shenzhen (SZX)
• Hong Kong (HKG – Not in Mainland China)

Weekly Flight Frequency to Chinese Cities

Emirates’ new EK328 flight to Shenzhen, with weekly frequencies between Dubai and China (including Hong Kong), receives a further boost, reaching 63 services. Out of those 35, there are flights to the greater Bay Area and its industrial complex (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong). The overall weekly flight frequency breakdown, including Emirates’ new flight to Shenzhen, now features:

• Shenzhen – 7 Weekly flights
• Guangzhou – 7 Weekly flights
• Hong Kong – 21 Weekly flights (including one daily via Bangkok)
• Shanghai – 14 Weekly flights
• Beijing – 14 Weekly flights

That all, unsurprisingly, makes China one of Emirates’ most served destinations.

Aircraft and Cabin Experience

For Flight EK328 Emirates employs one of the 120 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The real news is that this aircraft is one of the latest retrofitted planes featuring the all-new business and premium economy classes.

Boeing 777-300ER Configuration

The new retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER cabin interiors come with a different cabin configuration from what has been standard for the best of the last 2 decades. The new Boeing 777-300ER configuration with new Business and Premium Economy cabins now features:

• 8 First class suites – 1-2-1 layout
• 40 Business Class seats – 1-2-1 layout
• 24 Premium Economy seats – 2-4-2 layout
• 260 Economy Class seats – 3-4-3 layout

What is a milestone in Emirates’ cabin configuration history is the abandonment of the infamous middle business class seat (old layout was 2-3-2), and aisle access is now guaranteed for all seats. That has been a significant handicap for the Boeing 777 fleet compared to the A380s, which have had the updated version since delivery.

First City in China to Receive Emirates’ Retrofitted Aircraft

And among the 4 (+ Hong Kong) Chinese destinations, Shenzhen will be the very first to have this new cabin configuration. Possibly in the effort to entice corporate travelers to choose Emirates over more direct and time-convenient modes of traveling.

I’m very curious to see what the response of travelers will be for the new Business class and also Premium Economy.

Premium Economy Debut in Chinese Mainland

Speaking of Premium Economy, Flight EK328 to Shenzhen also marks the launch of the airline’s new travel class to mainland China. So far, only Hong Kong has ever received flights with this new service option.

Premium Economy has become hugely successful across the aviation industry as it caters to a demand for more comfortable travel than economy class without the price tag associated with business class. With China’s growing middle class in its largest cities, this should be a successful pairing of supply and demand.

Business and Cargo Operations

Finally, we need to touch on the cargo operation opportunities this new Emirates flight to Shenzhen brings along. Many overlook that, despite Emirates flights being passenger services, they also carry large quantities of cargo in the aircraft’s hold. Additionally, the Boeing 777-300ER is the most versatile aircraft in this regard, and Emirates makes full use of this capability.

Shenzhen, because of the businesses based in the area, is the perfect destination to transport cargo, as many time-sensitive tech components are often transported by plane.

Greater Bay Area Trade Benefits

What does that translate to for the greater Bay Area? A significant amount of cargo can be transported to any point in the Emirates’ passenger and freight network in a very short period. Each Emirates Boeing 777-300ER on the Dubai-Shenzhen route offers 16 tonnes of cargo capacity, and there are seven of these flights each week.

Keeping a narrower focus, this will further enhance trade opportunities between the UAE and China, which in 2023 alone reached $95 billion.