A growing focus on Africa with scheduled enhancements to existing operations in Egypt, Ethiopia and Tanzania, and soon-to-be-launched services to Tunisia, marks the start of Dubai-based Emirates’ winter schedule. The award-winning carrier’s East African presence, currently at 31 flights to four gateways in four countries, will be bolstered when it introduces daily non-stop flights to Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam.

The Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa which entered Emirates’ 85-strong destination network on 27th March as its 77th gateway will experience an influx of over 1000 passenger seats and 52 tonnes cargo capacity, as the airline adds four additional flights to its existing three per week, making it a daily service from 1st December.

The extra frequencies with flight numbers EK 723 (Dubai-Addis Ababa) and EK 724 (Addis Ababa-Dubai) will operate every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday using an Airbus A340-300 aircraft.

Connections to East Africa will also improve as Emirates introduces direct flights between Dubai and Dar es Salaam, putting an end to the service which originally operated via Nairobi. The non-stop flights will make available almost 1700 passenger seats to Dar es Salaam per week per direction.

In North Africa, Emirates will add an additional flight every Saturday to power-house Egypt’s capital city, Cairo, bringing its total to 10 flights a week, starting 29th October.

The state-of-the-art Emirates’ Boeing 777-200 aircraft currently in service on the route, and equipped with mood-lighting to minimise jetlag and Emirates’ patented information, communication and entertainment (ice) system offering more than 500 channels of inflight entertainment, will be used for the additional frequency. It offers 12 First, 42 Business and 236 Economy Class seats, along with 18 tonnes of cargo capacity.

To Cairo, Emirates currently operates flights on all days of the week and a double daily on Tuesday and Friday.

Nasser bin Kherbash, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Africa explained that the increasing capacity was only natural given the growing business between traditional trade partners, U.A.E. and Africa.

“Currently, Dubai’s trade with Africa exceeds U$27 million, and is expected to reach new heights as more and more African countries adopt free trade policies. Emirates’ increasing presence in the region will facilitate and add greater momentum to this trade process.”

Continuing with its strategy of enhancing links between Dubai and North Africa, Emirates recently announced its decision to serve Tunis via Tripoli.

With the launch of its five-flights-a-week service to the capital city of the Tunisian Republic, the airline’s North Africa footprint will include five flights to Libya, 17 to Egypt, seven to Morocco, totalling 29 flights.

Tunis will be the eighth gateway in a series of new destination launches this year for the rapidly-expanding airline, the others being Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Hamburg, Nagoya, Beijing, Thiruvananthapuram and Kolkata, and Bangalore which joins the airline’s network together with Tunis on 29th October.

In celebration of its forthcoming service and coupled with its intent to boost tourism inflow to Tunis, Emirates is introducing a host of consumer incentives.

First, Business and Economy Class passengers flying from any of Emirates’ 57-country international network to Tunis will be eligible for a complimentary three, two and one night stay respectively at the Sheraton Tunis Hotel & Towers. The offer is valid for all journeys between 29th October 2006 and 31st January 2007.

Bookings can be made until 30th November via Emirates Call centre (04- 214 4444); travel hubs in Dubai and Al Ain; dedicated website www.emirates.ae ; or though preferred travel agents. Outbound travel must commence on or before 30th November.

Doubling the delight, UAE-based passengers who book and pay for their Dubai-Tunis tickets online in any class on or before 30th November, could also be one of four lucky winners to get back the entire value of their ticket.
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