Emirates has announced that Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s principal port and commercial city, will become a double daily operation from January 1st 2015.

Emirates currently operates 12 flights a week between Dubai and Dar es Salaam and with the addition of two extra flights in January, Dar es Salaam will join Nairobi as the second destination in east Africa with a double daily service.

“On October 27th this year we introduced the five times weekly flight to complement the daily service, but we decided to add two extra flights to the schedule, which will provide travellers with even more convenience and choice when travelling to Dubai, and onward to our extensive worldwide network of more than 140 destinations,” said Orhan Abbas, Emirates senior vice president, commercial operations, Latin America, Central and Southern Africa.

“Our move to a double daily for Dar es Salaam clearly shows the importance of Tanzania as a key tourism and business market, and we are optimistic that the additional flights will further boost inbound and outbound tourism and trade between the country, Dubai and our network, especially the US and Europe, as well as the Middle East, India and the Far East,” he added.

The second daily service is operated with an Emirates A330-200 in a three class configuration with 12 seats in First Class, 42 in Business Class and 183 in Economy Class.

The two extra flights will provide an additional 948 seats to the 2370 seats available on the current five times weekly service.

It also increases the cargo capacity on the route by more than 65 tonnes, giving traders and business more opportunities to import and export products.

The first departure, flight EK 725, leaves Dubai at 10:15 and arrives in Dar es Salaam at 14:55, while the return flight, EK 726, departs Dar es Salaam at 16:45 and lands in Dubai at 23:20.

The second flight, EK 727, departs Dubai at 16:55 and arrives in Dar es Salaam at 21:50, and returns as EK 728, departing at 23:25 and arriving in Dubai at 06:15 the next day.