Emirates will introduce a second daily non-stop flight to Glasgow in Scotland, commencing from 1 June.
The announcement comes as a result of continued demand for the service between Dubai and Glasgow, which began in 2004, the airline said.
The additional flight, coupled with an aircraft upgrade on the existing service, will increase Emirates' capacity to Glasgow by 47 per cent, an extra 199 seats each way per day. It will also provide an additional 13 tonnes of daily cargo capacity, the carrier said.
First Class cabins will be available on both daily services, the first time this has been offered by a commercial airline operating into Scotland, it said.
"This announcement illustrates our commitment to Scotland and to our wider UK route network in difficult economic times," said Salem Obaidalla, senior vice-president, commercial operations, Europe and Russian Federation.
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, who joined an announcement event in Glasgow, said: "From a starting point in 2004, Emirates' Dubai route has proved a huge success, generating over Dhs 931 million (£164 million) to date for the local economy and bringing more than 687,000 inbound passengers to Glasgow."
"The operation of a double daily service is a major step forward in terms of forging greater business links and increasing access between Glasgow and key Asian economic decision centres, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as emerging markets in China and India," he added.
The Glasgow authorities estimate that the twice-daily service will deliver a local economic benefit of Dhs 187 million with almost 140,000 inbound passengers in 2012 alone. According to the airline, over the next five years, the route will be worth more than Dhs 1.1 billion to the city, bringing more than 846,000 inbound passengers to Glasgow through to 2016.
The new scheduled evening service will be operated by a three-class Airbus A340-300, carrying 12 First Class passengers, 42 in Business Class and 213 in Economy Class. EK 025 departs Dubai at 1450hrs and arrives in Glasgow at 2000hrs.
EK 026 will depart daily from Glasgow at 2130hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0800hrs the next day. The existing day-time flight EK 027/EK 028 is being upgraded to a three-class Boeing 777-300ER with eight First Class Private Suites, 42 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 310 seats in Economy Class.
© The Gulf 2012
