OREANDA-NEWS  On 05 November was announced, that Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, is going to launch its second daily flight to Dubai from the capital of Russia on the 2nd of February 2009.

Emirates began to operate passenger and cargo services to Moscow 5 times a week in July 2003 and received a warm welcome from both passengers and the travel trade alike. The demand on the route began on a strong note and continued to grow steadily thereafter. Soon after the launch of the first flight the airline announced the adding of the sixth frequency on its Dubai-Moscow route and finally in March 2005 it started operating daily flight to Moscow.

Starting February 2, 2009, Emirates will start operating second daily flight service, leaving Moscow Domodedovo airport at 23:40 (EK 132) and landing in Dubai at 05:55 the next day. The return flight EK 131 will depart from Dubai at 17:40 arriving in Moscow at 22:05.

Khadim Al Shamsi, Emirates’ Area Manager for Russia and CIS, said: “ The number of passengers willing to travel with Emirates has been growing steadily since the launch of service in July 2003. We received numerous requests to add flights on Moscow-Dubai route from our customers and partners. We are excited to announce that Emirates will offer twice daily flight service starting February 2, 2009. Emirates will continue offering its passengers the best travel experience. With the launch of the second daily flight travelers will have even more convenient access to numerous Emirates destinations around the world”.

“Moreover, I would like to highlight our promotional fares on the 2nd flight from Moscow to Dubai. F or example if 2 passengers are travelling together to Dubai they will spend as low as RUB 15 ,000. Promotional fares concern some other destinations connecting Moscow with Far East, Middle East and India (from RUB 19000), Africa (from RUB 23000), Australia (from RUB 42000 ) . The tickets at those prices are on sales already” – he added.

Nabil Sultan, Emirates Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Europe, said: “The launch of the Moscow-Dubai second daily flight is another important milestone not only for Emirates Russia but for the company in general. Russian air travel market is expanding very fast, and we are happy to provide our Russian passengers with even more opportunities. Emirates’ current daily service to Moscow has been exceptionally successful and we are an airline of choice right across our customer spectrum – both passenger and trade. We are confident that the second service to Moscow will enjoy the same phenomenal success given our experience and Moscow’s increasing appeal to business and leisure travellers from around Emirates’ worldwide network”.

Emirates second daily flight from Moscow will give even more convenient travel options to Russian travelers. They will get an opportunity to fly out from Moscow to Dubai in the evening, which is a definite advantage for business travelers. Besides, with an opening of the second daily flight from Moscow a number of most popular destinations will become even more accessible for Russian travelers due to shorter connections in Dubai. Passengers flying from the Maldives and Sri Lanka will have an option to leave in the morning; connection times on the way to the Seychelles and Johannesburg will decrease by far; additional travel options will become available for those traveling to a number of Asian destinations. Transit passengers will avoid overnight stop-over in Dubai on the way to Cape Town, Sydney, Oakland, Christchurch.

Nairobi and Darussalam. Middle East destinations such as Amman, Beirut, Damask and Sana will also be easier to get to from Moscow.

Moscow is a growing trade, commerce and business centre where lots of exciting events both business and lifestyle take place regularly. Besides it is Russia’s cultural and historic cradle with worth to see monuments, museums and art galleries that attract tourists from around the world and business travelers alike. Dubai in its turn is a very important and strongly sought-for tourist and business destination for Russian travelers.

Currently Emirates’ flights to Moscow are served by the airline’s Boeing 777 series. The technically-advanced Boeing 777-200 can accommodate 12 First Class, 42 Business Class and 236 Economy Class passengers. Boeing 777-300/300ER comfortably accommodates 12 passengers in First, 42 in Business and 320 or 310 passengers in Economy Class. Airbus 340-300 can hold 12 passengers in first class, 42 in business class, and 213 in economy. Second daily flight will be served by Airbus A330-200, which will offer 12 seats in First Class, 42 seats in Business and 183 seats in Economy Class. Second daily flight will increase weekly capacity by almost 65% in Economy Class and number of seats available weekly in First and Business Class will double, reaching 756 seats a week.

On the cargo side, the extra flight will increase Emirates SkyCargo’s weekly capacity into Russia to more than 220 tonnes. Currently, the main products arriving in Moscow via Emirates SkyCargo are flowers from Africa, pharmaceuticals from the Indian subcontinent and meat from Australia and New Zealand.

The additional services will also enable Sky Cargo to even better serve Russian exporters by offering them more capacity and more frequent connections with their target markets.

Emirates offers to its Russian passengers a number of on-ground services including Chauffeur Drive, online check-in , possibility of choosing their preferred seats on the flights at the time of booking, when they purchase their tickets online.

Emirates currently operates services to 101 cities in 61 countries in Europe, North America and South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific. New passenger routes for 2008 include Cape Town (launched on the 30 th of March), Kozhikode ( Calicut), Guangzhou (both were launched on the 1 st of July), Los Angeles (to be launched October 26 th) and San Francisco (to be launched December 15th).

Emirates is the world's largest customer for the A380. The Emirates' version of the super-jumbo has Onboard Shower Spas and an Onboard Lounge where Premium class passengers can socialise over a drink - effectively creating a premium hotel in the sky.

The carrier is expecting to receive its second A380 on October 24th, which will be added to the aircraft serving the New York JFK route. From December 1st, the double-decker is set to fly the London Heathrow route and then Sydney and Auckland in February 2009.

Flights from Dubai:

EK 133 departs Dubai 1015hrs, arrives Moscow 1440hrs

EK 131 departs Dubai 1740hrs, arrives Moscow 2205hrs (effective February 2nd, 2009)

Flights to Dubai:

EK 134 departs Moscow 1650hrs, arrives Dubai 2255hrs

EK 132 departs Moscow 2340hrs, arrives Dubai 0555hrs the following day (effective February 2nd, 2009.