Emirates Boosts Links to Africa

Emirates Airline is to further expand its network in Africa with the launch of flights to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, and the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, while increasing the frequency of its services to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. The new five times weekly link between Dubai International and Lusaka and onward service to Harare will be introduced from February 1, 2012 and will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 in a three-class configuration that offers 12 luxurious First Class seats, 42 seats in Business Class and 183 in Economy.

“Emirates has long understood the enormous potential of Africa, which today is one of the fastest-expanding economic regions of the world, benefitting from a combined market of over one billion people, rising consumer demand and an abundance of natural resources,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group. “Zambia and Zimbabwe will be our 20th and 21st African destinations and their addition to our global network will enable us to provide new flexibility and choice for customers, help to grow trade routes and create important new inbound and outbound markets for tourism.”

The new flight will significantly enhance air service connectivity to the two southern African countries. There are currently only limited intercontinental links from Lusaka and Harare. British Airways offers flights to Lusaka from London Heathrow, while Air Zimbabwe flies to Beijing and London Gatwick from Harare although its flights have been significantly disrupted by strikes and operational issues over the past year. An estimated 192,000 O&D passengers travelled between Zambia and destinations outside of Africa in the past year, while 246,000 O&D passengers made similar journeys from or to Zimbabwe.

Emirates Airline is to also add two further weekly flights to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius to support growing tourist demand to the popular holiday location. From November 4, the carrier will introduce a tenth weekly rotation from its Dubai International Airport hub, adding an eleventh flight from December 6, increasing weekly capacity by 22 per cent in each direction.

“We are standing by the destination at a time when the international outlook for travel is uncertain,” said Majid Al Mualla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, West Asia & Indian Ocean, Emirates Airline. “Our decision to introduce these extra flights is the result of our long-term partnership with the island.”

The increasing number of GCC based tourists to Mauritius will welcome the enhanced capacity to one of their favourite holiday destinations as they will have more travel options and better connectivity, as will the many other holidaymakers travelling to the island from other destinations around the wider Emirates network.

In the past year Emirates Airline carried an estimated 61,000 O&D passengers between Dubai International and Mauritius, although a further 219,000 passengers travelled from, or to, other points in its network. The table below highlights the ten largest traffic flows by origin or destination airport.

Emirates Airline is currently the only carrier to offer flights to Mauritius from the Middle East, although local carrier Air Mauritius does codeshare on all of its flights, as well as offering its own direct links to destinations in Africa, Asia and Europe.