Emirates will launch a second daily service between Dubai and Perth. It will start with four weekly flights from March 2, which will be escalated to a daily in September.Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “Strong and steady demand for Emirates’ passenger and cargo services has motivated us to increase our flights to Perth. It signals our commitment and confidence in the growth of the Australian, particularly the Western Australian, market. Emirates’ additional services are widely expected to bring greater access and facilitate more traffic flows between Western Australia and key markets in Europe and the Middle East.”

Emirates launched non-stop services to Perth in August 2002 with four weekly flights, commencing dailies in May 2003. The airline’s Dubai-Perth flight was the first ever non-stop connection between the Middle East and Australia.

From Perth, Emirates SkyCargo’s services have boosted exports of chilled meat, fresh produce, flowers, and seafood, mainly to markets in the Middle East, particularly Dubai, Doha and Kuwait.

To Perth the cargo division carries mining equipment, automobiles parts, telecommunications equipment, and smaller-sized electronic items from Europe and the Middle East markets such as Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Tehran and Riyadh. The double daily service will boost Emirates SkyCargo’s capacity to more than 180 tonnes per week.

At present, Emirates provides 42 weekly passenger services from Dubai to Australia - fourteen per week to Sydney and Melbourne, and seven per week to Brisbane and Perth. The airline has been a key driver in the growth of Middle East’s multi-billion dollar trade relationship with Australia.

Emirates employs more than 260 staff in Australia and 900 Australians in Dubai to ensure that its world-renowned inflight and ground services on the sector remain culturally-relevant and customer-focussed. Between 1997 and 2003, Australia became one of the most popular destinations for leisure travellers from the Middle East with tourist traffic growing by 45 per cent and Tourism Australia forecasting a further 80 per cent increase in 2006.

Flight Details:

The route will be served by Emirates’ Airbus A340-300 aircraft with 267 seats configured in three classes - with 12 seats in First, 42 in Business and 213 in Economy - and offering 13 tonnes of cargo capacity.

From 2nd September the service will become a second daily which will be operated by a Boeing 777-200 with 290 seats - 12 seats in First, 42 in Business and 236 in Economy class - and 18 tonnes of cargo capacity.

From 2nd March, EK424 will fly every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday to Perth, departing at 09:25 and arriving at 00:10 the next day.

Return flight EK425 will depart Perth on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 06:30 to arrive in Dubai at 13:45. All timings are local.

Currently, EK420 departs Dubai daily at 02:35 hours to arrive in Perth at 17:20 hours; EK 421 departs Perth at 22:30 hours, arriving in Dubai at 05:45 hours the following morning.
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