Dubai-based Emirates Airlines will add 11 new aircraft to its fleet and increase seating capacity by 25 percent, allowing it to start four new routes, add more flights on many current routes and launch new inflight services and products.
Daily nonstop Emirates flights from Dubai to Sydney, Australia start from October 26 with the first deliveries of a brand new aircraft, the ultra long-range Airbus A340-500. This will cut travel time to the major city considerably, not only from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but from gateways in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Emirates will also launch daily wide-bodied Boeing 777-300 services to Brisbane via Singapore, giving it its fourth Australian route after Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The airline will also start services to Moscow from July 1, to Shanghai from August 2 and to Lagos December 1.
In a total revision of its current timetable, Emirates will start double daily services from Dubai to Munich from March 31, to Tehran from May 1, to Manchester from June 1, to Muscat from July 1, and to Hong Kong from October 26.
With a 6,50-strong workforce, Emirates Airlines recorded a 140 percent rise in its half-yearly profits, reaching Dh 404.2 million ($110 million) between January and June 2002. The airline posted first half operating revenues of $1.7 billion, a growth of 27 percent compared to $925.7 million in 1H01. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
