Emirates Adds Third Daily Rotation to Milan

United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline is to introduce a third daily rotation between Dubai and Milan Malpensa as its growth in the Italian market continues. The new flight will be introduced from June 1, 2012 and will increase the airline’s schedule to Italy to 49 flights a week. Emirates has already announced the introduction of a second daily flight to Venice from March 25, 2012 and introduced the Airbus A380 onto its Rome route in 2011.

Emirates currently utilises a Boeing 777-300ER on its two existing flights between Dubai and Milan but will use a smaller 227-seat Airbus A330-200 on this new rotation. An estimated 124,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year, up 20.5 per cent on the previous 12 month period. Average air fares have also strengthened by an estimated 7.0 per cent during the same period.

"Our European network is growing stronger and stronger and a number of important developments are taking place in Italy," said Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe and Russian Federation, Emirates Airline. "This is another significant investment in the Italian market and we look forward to offering further choice and excellent value for money to travellers and businesses, including the cargo community."

Over the past couple of months Emirates has announced a significant expansion in its capacity to Europe with additional flights and new routes to Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK. "Our expansion in Europe is particularly significant in these challenging economic times. We are creating and supporting jobs in the travel industry and many other related sectors, while opening up new markets to importers and exporters," explained Salem Obaidalla. As an example, since starting flights to Italy in 1992, Emirates flights have helped contribute to a US$ 4.6 billion trade relationship between the country and the UAE.