Emirates will upgrade one of its nine daily flights between Dubai and Doha to an Airbus A380 from December 1.
The increase in capacity between Dubai and Doha will help to strengthen trade between the UAE and Qatar, the airline said. The UAE is Qatar’s fifth-largest trading partner with bilateral trade volumes reaching more than US$7 billion in 2015. This is expected to grow as more investment opportunities open up in the next few years as Dubai sets to host Expo 2020, in addition to Doha hosting the Fifa World Cup in 2022.
Emirates currently has 85 A380s in service and 57 pending delivery, more than any other airline globally.
The carrier recently boosted its services to Doha with two additional flights, taking its total to nine daily services and making the Qatari capital the most served destination in the airline’s network.
Demand has been steadily increasing between Dubai and Doha, with more than 700,000 passengers carried since January of this year alone. Once launched, Doha will be Emirates’ 45th destination for the flagship super jumbo. Doha will also become the world’s shortest scheduled A380 flight, flying a distance of 379 kilometres each way.
The upgrade to the A380 will provide Emirates the increased ability to serve growing demand for travel out of Doha. The deployment of the A380 operation was made possible through the support of the Qatari authorities.
The Emirates A380 will be deployed as EK 841, which will depart Dubai at 07.45 arriving in Doha at 08:05. The return flight, EK 842 will depart Doha at 09:50 arriving in Dubai at 12:00. The timing of the A380 service will provide business and leisure travellers connections of under four hours to some of the most popular onwards destinations serviced by the Emirates’ aircraft including New York, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Manchester, Düsseldorf, Milan, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam.
The A380 deployed to Doha will be set in a three-class configuration, with 429 seats in economy on the main deck, 76 flat-bed seats in business and 14 first-class private suites on the upper deck, enabling Emirates to serve increased premium demand to and from Doha.
Also on Sunday, Emirates resumed services between Dubai and Conakry in the Republic of Guinea.
Emirates’ service to Conakry was first launched on October 27, 2013. The airline suspended services in August 2014 after a review of its operations, and has now resumed services to meet customer demand.
The four times weekly service via Dakar, reopens access for Guinean travellers to Emirates’ vast route network of more than 150 destinations, particularly in the Middle East, west Asia and the Far East with one stop in Dubai.
The Conakry service is operated by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER with a three-class cabin configuration, offering eight private suites in first class, featuring automated sliding doors for privacy, personal mini-bar, and fully inclined seats; 42 lie flat seats in business class; and 310 seats in economy class.
In addition to carrying passengers, Emirates also reintroduced its cargo services by offering 20 tonnes of cargo capacity per flight for key exports such as seafood, fruit, vegetables and textiles, and imports of mobile phones, pharmaceuticals and mining equipment.
Emirates flight EK797 departs Dubai every Tuesday, and EK795 leaves Dubai every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 07:15 and arrives in Conakry at 13:30. The flight then departs Conakry at 15:10 and arrives in Dakar 16:35. The return flight departs Dakar at 18:05 and arrives in Dubai at 07:35 the next morning.
Situated on the Atlantic coast of Africa, Conakry is the nation’s economic, financial and cultural centre, home to an estimated population of 2 million people. Agriculture and mineral production are Guinea’s main economic activities. The country is also one of the world’s largest producers of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds and gold.
chnelson@thenational.ae
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