Emirates, the award winning international airline announced today that its A380 superjumbo will make a much anticipated return to New York on October 31, 2010. The decision to reinstate the aircraft on one of Emirates’ double daily JFK routes comes as the carrier reported a significant increase in revenue for the Americas in 2009-10, representing a year-on-year rise of 8.1 percent.

Revenue for the Americas totaled US$1.091 billion, compared with US$1.009 billion in the 2008-09 financial year. The increase was the highest across all of Emirates’ global markets.

Growth in the Americas helped steer the Emirates Group to a net profit of US$ 1.1 billion – an outstanding result in a year fraught with worldwide market instability and economic uncertainty. 27.5 million passengers flew with Emirates over the last financial year, over 20 percent more than in 2008-9.

Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline said, “The United States is a very important market for Emirates and we are optimistic about the future growth of its business and leisure travel sectors. We promised to return the A380 to New York as soon as demand recovered and we have been true to our word.”

He continued: “Against some of the toughest operating conditions ever faced, Emirates’ performance in the Americas has been hugely encouraging. This achievement reflects our success in maintaining our business as usual approach and remaining faithful to our strategy of product and service excellence. Our results also add to the growing evidence that the economic downturn is abating in the US.

“As we look to 2010-11 and beyond, Emirates will continue to invest in its products and services to build on the resurgent demand for air travel within the Americas. Our plans for the future also include adding new US cities to our four existing gateways: New York, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

Emirates’ expansion plans for the region will be boosted by a significant increase in capacity – the airline is scheduled to receive 11 new wide-body aircraft in 2010, including Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.

Emirates currently operates eight A380 aircraft, serving London Heathrow, Toronto, Paris, Jeddah, Bangkok, Seoul, Sydney and Auckland. In March 2010, the airline also announced the start of A380 services to Beijing on August 1, 2010.

The much-praised superjumbos offer an Onboard Lounge for First Class and Business Class passengers, with a wide range of drinks and canapés, as well as the space to socialize or simply relax.

Passengers in all classes can lose themselves in the quietness of the aircraft and the much-enjoyed ice entertainment system. There are more than 1,000 channels of on-demand entertainment including 200 movies from around the world, 100 TV channels, more than 500 audio channels, 100 video games and news, sports and business headlines.

Mr. Clark added, “Emirates has remained committed to increasing our network and service standards through a difficult period when many competitors were doing the opposite. We believe that with our seamless connection times, state-of-the-art terminal in Dubai and one of the youngest and most advanced fleets in the sky, Emirates offers customers in the Americas the most comfortable and convenient way to reach the Middle East and beyond.”

From October 31st, Flight EK201 will be operated by an A380 aircraft departing Dubai (DXB) at 8:30 a.m., arriving New York (JFK) at 2:15 p.m the same day. EK202 departs JFK at 11:00 p.m., arriving Dubai at 7:45 p.m. the following day. The daily A380 service will complement Emirates second daily flight aboard the Boeing 777-300ER.