Emirates have announced that double daily flights from Dubai and Beijing will commence on the 1, April, 2007. This means an increase to 12 flights every week, and then from July 1 the carrier will launch a double daily non-stop service.

“China is the new economic powerhouse and the world is beating a path to its capital Beijing. Since the launch of our Dubai-Beijing route last September, we have experienced strong demand from countries on our network and consistently high seat load factors. We are in the business of creating convenient global air networks for our customers – both passengers and cargo – and the upcoming Olympic Games in 2008 will increase the tempo of demand for our services to Beijing,” said Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline.

“Our second daily to the city is win-win for customers, stakeholders and our business, which is the reason we earmarked the city for double dailies so soon after our launch. We are extremely grateful to the Chinese government and the airport authorities for their continuing support. Emirates is confident that our twice-daily flights will accelerate bilateral ties between the two countries in the political, social, cultural, trade and tourism spheres,” continued Clark.

Emirates will serve the second daily with an Airbus A340-300 offering 267 seats in a three-class configuration – 12 seats in First Class, 42 in Business and 213 in Economy – and 13 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity. With the second daily, the airline will offer capacity in excess of 3,700 seats and 180 tonnes of cargo to Beijing every week.

The increase in services follows the growth of relations between the two countries. The UAE and the China National Tourism Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Chinese citizens’ outbound travel to the UAE earlier this month, which is projected to significantly increase the growth of Dubai’s tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) markets.