Emirates brought a taste of Dubai to Mauritius today (31st July 2002) ahead of the start of its operations to the idyllic, tropical island from 1st September.
At a press conference at the Hilton Hotel announcing the new service, Nasser Bin Kherbash, Emirates’ General Manager for the Middle East and Africa, said: “Mauritius is renowned throughout the world as the jewel of the Indian Ocean, an ideal holiday destination, with a high standard of service.
“Our new operations will complement this hospitality and we are confident that we will be successful in increasing this important leisure traffic, as well as cargo operations. 
“We already feature over 20 twenty hotel and apartment properties across Mauritius in the current holiday brochure produced by Emirates Holidays, the wholesale travel division.

“We look forward to developing this relationship between Mauritius and Dubai for our mutual benefit.”
The non-stop flights straight down to the island, off the south-eastern coast of Africa, will be operated with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a two-cabin configuration, with 34 Business and 251 Economy Class seats.
Emirates has invited top travel agents and other travel industry professionals in Mauritius to its exciting roadshow tomorrow (1st August 2002) at the Sugar Beach Resort.
The roadshow will showcase Emirates and Dubai in presentations by a number of the airline’s management representing various divisions, including Commercial Operations, Emirates Holidays, and Skywards, the frequent flyer programme.
Flight EK702 will operate every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, departing Mauritius at 23:30hrs, and arriving at Dubai International Airport at 06:00hrs the following day.
The return flight, EK701, will take off from Dubai at 02:30hrs, arriving at Mauritius’ Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport at 09:00hrs.
Emirates, one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, operates a modern fleet of aircraft which boasts an average age of just three years and includes Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
With the addition this year of new routes to Casablanca and Khartoum, Emirates flies to 58 destinations in 41countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East, Asia and Australia.  Further new destinations this year, in addition to Mauritius from 1st September, include Perth from 2nd August and Osaka from 1st October.
The airline is planning to start operations to North America in 2003, with the delivery of the long-range Airbus A340-500 aircraft.
Emirates is the main launch customer for the Airbus A380 Super Jumbo, with a firm order for 22, plus 10 options.  Other aircraft orders, including eight Airbus A340-600 aircraft and 25 Boeing 777s in two versions, will boost Emirates’ fleet to 100 aircraft by the year 2010.
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