Emirates brings West Africa closer with launch of new Dakar route

Emirates has strengthened its links to West Africa with the launch of a new direct service to Dakar.

EK 797 took off this morning for the airline’s 105th destination, creating the only non-stop, scheduled passenger link between Dubai and Senegal. The new route will cut current journey times to Dakar by around the equivalent of an eight hour working day, creating an easy, fast and convenient service for business and leisure travellers.

Nigel Page, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, Africa & the Americas said: “Today marks a new chapter in air travel between the Middle East and West Africa. No more will passengers travelling to and from Senegal face long detours to Europe or other parts of Africa to reach their final destination. Read more

Emirates Airline launches double-decker service to Manchester

Emirates’ expanding A380 fleet is generating interest from airports across the world as Manchester becomes the latest city to be served by the superjumbo.

The international airline of the United Arab Emirates is now the world’s largest operator of the A380 with 12 in the fleet.

A further order for 32 A380s, announced during the Berlin Air Show in June, has prompted a flurry of enquiries from airports around the world.

Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman Emirates Airline & Group, who was born in the North West of England and joined the first Manchester A380 flight said: “This is a historic moment for Emirates as we bring our 21st century superjumbo to the North West twenty years after our first flight from the region. Our Manchester service has been an incredible success story, and we’re delighted to be opening the next chapter today.”

Mr Flanagan added: “People are realising that this is the passenger aircraft of the future. As a result of our announcement in Berlin, we have had enquiries from more than 20 airports across the world, asking whether Emirates would fly the A380 to their airports. These aircraft are a dream to travel in and a dream to have at your disposal for expansion. They are extremely popular with our passengers and where we deploy them, they fill up almost immediately – running at over 90 percent load factor.”

Information from Airbus shows that the A380 has now flown to more than 100 airports across the globe, either commercially or for events or test flights.

The start of A380 flights to Manchester from today is the first time the world’s largest airliner has operated a scheduled service to a regional airport. It is also the first time Emirates has brought its First Class cabin to the route.

Manchester Airport’s Managing Director, Andrew Cornish, said: “The start of daily A380 services from Manchester to Dubai is a moment in history for our airport and the wider region. It’s of such significance that we’re expecting thousands of people to visit the airport on September 1st to catch a glimpse of her first flight. We’ve invested around £10m to upgrade the airport’s infrastructure to accommodate the flagship of the Emirates fleet and are very much looking forward to welcoming her for the first time.”

EK017 leaves Dubai daily at 0755hrs and arrives in Manchester at 1225hrs. EK018 departs Manchester at 1410hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0015hrs the next day.

Emirates’ A380 is renowned for its First Class Private Suites, Onboard Shower Spas and Onboard Lounge for First Class and Business Class passengers, offering a wide range of drinks and canapés, as well as space to socialise or simply relax.

Passengers in all classes can lose themselves in the quietness of the aircraft and the award-winning ice in-flight entertainment system. There are more than 1,200 channels of on-demand entertainment, including 200 movies from around the world, 100 TV channels, more than 500 audio channels, 100 video games and news headlines.

Emirates now operates A380s on the following routes: London Heathrow, Manchester, Paris, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto, Bangkok, Seoul, Jeddah and Beijing. Hong Kong will be added to that list from 1st October and on 31st October, the A380 will make a much-anticipated return to New York.

Emirates is the world’s largest customer for the superjumbo and its total A380 order book is 90 – with 78 aircraft still to come.

Emirates to go Daily to Al Medinah al Munawarah

Emirates will increase services to Al Medinah al Munawarah to seven flights per week from 31st October 2010 underscoring the important economic and cultural ties between the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The airline remains committed to the Kingdom with a total of 25 flights per week operating through its four gateways. These three new services will bring the number to 28 flights per week as well as increasing additional capacity to the Kingdom by 15 percent.

“Saudi Arabia is an important market for Emirates and our new daily service to Al Medinah al Munawarah is key to our continued growth there. In the last two years we have increased operations to the Kingdom from 17 to 25 weekly flights and we will continue to work closely with the Saudi Authorities to implement additional services,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran.

Mr. Khoory continued: “This daily service will offer our customers in the Kingdom with even more choice, helping to connect both business and leisure travellers not only to Dubai but also our extensive worldwide network. There is significant demand for travel in and out of Al Medinah al Munawarah from across our network and we are confident that these new flights will be well received by our customers.”

Emirates’ first flight to Al Medinah al Munawarah landed on July 2nd 2010. The service remains on a temporary schedule until 26th March 2011.

From 31st October the seven weekly flights to Al Medinah al Munawarah will depart Dubai each day at 0115 hours and will arrive in Al Medinah al Munawarah at 0315 hours. On the return journey the flight will depart Al Medinah al Munawarrah at 0445 hours, arriving in Dubai at 0815 hours. Emirates’ currently has four scheduled flights to the city departing on a Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The service is operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, offering 12 seats in First class, 42 seats in Business Class and 183 seats in Economy.

Priority Pass Middle East lounge coverage now bigger than ever

Priority Pass, the world’s leading independent airport lounge program, has added over 50 new lounges to its program this year making it the largest selection of lounges ever offered to its members.

Within the Middle East, new lounges are now available to members in Jeddah (Al-Fursan Golden Lounges), Riyadh (Al-Fursan Golden Lounges), Abu Dhabi (Dana Lounge) and in Muscat (Plaza Premium Lounge). These additions mean that there are now 26 lounges available to Priority Pass members in the Middle East – the largest independent coverage of airport VIP lounges in the Middle East – as well as over 600 throughout the rest of the world. For full details of these lounges, please use the Lounge Search function on the Priority Pass website. Read more

Dubai Helishow – The next big event for the regional aviation sector

Mediac Communications today announced the dates of the 2010 Dubai Helishow, the Middle East region’s largest trade show for the helicopter industry. The fourth edition of the Dubai Helishow – the International Civil and Military Helicopter Technology and Operations Exhibition will cater to the region’s growing civil, medical, military, and search and rescue sector needs. The biennial event will feature the latest product offerings from leading helicopter manufacturers, and suppliers of specialized technologies and services from across the world, and will be held at the Dubai Airport Expo Centre from November 2-4, 2010. Read more

Air Arabia sees increasing demand for GCC destinations

• Serves 551, 041 passengers in GCC in H1 2010, up 16.8 per cent
• Total number of flights to GCC destinations increase to 83 per week

Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, announced today that passenger traffic between Sharjah and other GCC destinations reached 551, 041 in the first half of 2010, an increase of 16.8 percent, compared to 471, 828 in the same period last year.

Air Arabia recorded an average seat load factor of 81.8 per cent during this period with a total of 83 flights per week from its hub in Sharjah to nine destinations in the GCC. Read more

Calogi Expands Services to Al Maktoum International Airport- DWC

Calogi, a leading air-freight portal solution, announced today that it has expanded to the new Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC).

With this expansion, Calogi now boasts a one-stop shop for members covering all elements of the air cargo supply chain across the eight FreightGates located in JAFZA, DAFZA, Dubai International Airport and the new DWC airport. Combined, this fully IATA e-freight compliant portal, provides users exclusive features and benefits, including access to more than 80 airlines and their general sales agents (GSAs) with a single subscription. Read more

Dnata Switzerland Achieves ISAGO Accreditation

Dnata Switzerland has become the first ground-handling operation in Switzerland to achieve ISAGO accreditation, having successfully passed audits for both the Head Office and Station Operations in Zurich.

The ISAGO program is an audit system conducted in a standardised and consistent manner, using internationally recognised quality auditing principles. The implementation of the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) aims to improve safety and cut airline costs by drastically reducing ground accidents and injuries. Read more

Emirates revamps Abu Dhabi and Al Ain bus service

Emirates’ Economy Class passengers residing in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi can save themselves a busload of hassle as Emirates increases the frequency of its free of charge bus service, to and from Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai.

The new frequencies have been implemented to help passengers reach Emirates Terminal 3 conveniently and with no added stress. In addition to the increased services Emirates has also invested significantly in revamping the bus, both inside and out. The bus interior is well air-conditioned with new more comfortable seating, whilst the exterior features an impressive Emirates aircraft decal, designed to stand out on the UAE’s busy roads. Read more

Emirates to launch second daily flights to Houston and Los Angeles

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