Emirates to launch third daily Manchester-Dubai flight
EMIRATES, the Dubai-based airline, is upping its services from Manchester from two to three daily flights, days after its Abu Dhabi-based rival Etihad said it was increasing its frequency to two flights a day.
Emirates, which operates the A380 super-jumbo, said the third Manchester to Dubai flight would begin from May 1 – two moths before Etihad goes double daily.
It said the latest expansion was in response to continued growing demand. The introduction of the additional flight will see Emirrates become the first carrier to operate three daily flights from Manchester to the same long haul destination.
Laurie Berryman, Emirates’ Vice President UK & Ireland said: “With the launch of a third daily flight, we’ve got Manchester covered morning, noon and night, offering business and leisure travellers from the region an incredible choice of travel options to destinations across the globe.
“We’ve already filled the additional capacity we introduced with the A380 last year and demand continues to grow, hence this plan for further growth.”
Andrew Harrison, managing director of Manchester Airport, said: “Since bringing the A380 to Manchester last September the route to Dubai has been one of Emirates’ strongest performers and we saw a full compliment of 517 in November so we know the traffic is there and the third daily service underlines the strength of this route and the importance of the Middle East to our longer term ambitions as an airport.
“Emirates’ operation in the North West has grown rapidly since it launched a twice-weekly service from Manchester in 1990.”
The new morning service, which departs at 0940, will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a three-class configuration seating 12 First Class, 42 Business Class and 183 Economy Class passengers.
