News: Emirates start second daily flight from Birmingham
Flights > News > # 494 (01/06/2005)
Emirates, the Dubai based international airline, has introduced a second daily service from Birmingham to Dubai, increasing seat capacity on the route by sixty per cent, offering a total of 556 seats from Birmingham every day.
The new flight, EK038, which launches today (June 1st) departs from Birmingham at 9.55pm, arriving in Dubai at 7.45am the following morning. This is ideally timed for connections to onward flights to destinations such as Sydney, Brisbane, Singapore, Bangkok, Johannesburg and Nairobi. The return flight, EK037, will depart from Dubai at 3.45pm, to arrive in Birmingham at 8.15pm.
The award-winning carrier already operates daily flights, launched in December 2000, between Birmingham and Dubai. Flight EK040 departs each day at 2pm, arriving in Dubai at 11.50pm. This service connects with flights to onward destinations such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mauritius, Perth and Shanghai.
Both flights will now be operated by 278-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, replacing the larger Boeing 777 which had just been offering one daily flight on this route. The A330 has 27 seats in Business class and 251 in Economy.
In the first four and a half years of operation, some 700,000 passengers have travelled on Emirates flights into and out of Birmingham, along with 23.4 million kilos of cargo.
Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said:
"The launch of Emirates second daily flight from Birmingham is in direct response to increasing demand for our services. We started flying from Birmingham in December of 2000 and the route has been an overwhelming success. This success is thanks to the tremendous support we have received from the Midlands community."
Emirates has been running a print, TV and radio advertising campaign in the region focusing on the convenience of flying from Birmingham rather than driving to London Heathrow. Tim Clark added:
"The time-consuming commute down the M40 to London to take a long-haul flight is a thing of the past - as the launch of this second service demonstrates. Dubai is a fantastic destination for both tourism and commerce, and is also a perfect geographical point to break long journeys, before connecting onto other points across the rapidly expanding Emirates network."
Birmingham International Airport's Managing Director, Richard Heard, said he is delighted with the continued success of the Emirates Dubai service.
"We've enjoyed a great working relationship with Emirates since the carrier began services in 2000 and this has helped develop this route to the launch of the twice-daily frequency. Our aim is to support further growth by ensuring that Emirates' passengers enjoy a top-class experience when they fly in to and out from Birmingham."
Significant levels of business travellers are also flying with Emirates, further demonstrating that the business community is embracing the benefits of service departing from a local airport. Since the launch, Emirates has continued to see month on month growth of Business Class passengers, who receive a host of benefits including access to Emirates lounges and complimentary chauffeur drive to and from their home, if living within a 65 mile radius of Birmingham Airport.
The launch of this second Emirates flight from Birmingham will increase the carrier's daily departures to Dubai from the UK to 12. The airline now operates four daily flights from London Heathrow, three from London Gatwick, two from Manchester and daily flights from Glasgow.
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Comment:
This much awaited development has finally got off the ground, after Emirates previously experienced problems in getting an aircraft ready to operate the route.
Birmingham now has direct access to two major long haul connections hubs,
