Emirates, the Dubai based international airline, announced today that it will add a further five weekly services to and from Paris-Charles de Gaulle in addition to its current once-daily flight, bringing its frequencies to and from the French capital to 12 each week. These will be in addition to the airline’s present three weekly flights between Nice and Dubai.The expansion in Emirates’ services between Paris and Dubai is a result of a new bilateral agreement between France and the United Arab Emirates and is effective from summer 2005. Under the terms of the agreement, a year later the airline will be able to start offering double daily frequencies, for a total of 14 flights per week to and from Paris.

The new services will consist of night flights from CDG and will open up greatly improved connections to 23 other Emirates destinations beyond Dubai, in the Middle East, Africa, Australasia, Far East and South Africa for travellers from France and other European destinations.

Said Ghaith Al Ghaith, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide: “In just three years we will have moved from three weekly flights between Paris and Dubai, to 12. This is the direct result of strong customer preference and demand for Emirates services, and it underscores our confidence in France as one of our key European markets.”

Mr. Al Ghaith added: “These new night flights between Paris and Dubai will enable Emirates to better accommodate our customers’ requirements while also letting us compete head-on with other carriers on a greater number of routes than ever. We will be able to offer more convenient connections to nearly two dozen destinations throughout our network - especially to Australia - thanks to much better links with our non-stop services from Dubai.”

The aircraft to be used for the new services is yet to be decided. Up to 30 per cent more seats could become available for Emirates customers, depending on the type of equipment. 
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