Emirates increases Asia flights

Emirates ups flights to the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia

Dubai: Emirates is increasing its services to three of its destinations in South East Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

From December 3, 2012, there will be an increase in the number of flights on the Dubai to Kuala Lumpur route from three daily to 25 a week, increasing to 26 a week from February 6 2013, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Starting January 1, 2013, Emirates will introduce a third daily, non-stop flight to Manila; with a third daily, non-stop service beginning on March 1, 2013 to Jakarta.

“Due to the strong demand we are experiencing, Emirates has added much-needed seat capacity on its flights to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

The extra daily flights will increase capacity on the Jakarta and Manila routes by 50 per cent and I would like to thank the relevant authorities in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia for their support,” said Salem Obaid Allah, Emirates’ Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations Far East & Australia.

“The new services offer our passengers with more options of their preferred departure time when travelling to Dubai, or travelling onwards throughout our ever-expanding global network. The extra capacity will also stimulate further tourism and trade between Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, UAE and beyond,” added Obaid Allah.

Emirates began services to the Philippines in 1990, Indonesia in 1992 and Kuala Lumpur in 1996, and since then the airline has continued to focus on these markets.

To Manila, the third daily service will be operated by one of Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, in the same two-class configuration, 42 business class lie-flat seats and 386 economy class seats, as the current double-daily service.

The new service EK336 departs Dubai at 1830hrs (local time) arriving in Manila at 0630 the following day. The return flight, EK337, departs Manila at 0845hrs arriving in Dubai at 1345hrs, in time to connect to the afternoon departures to Europe.

To Jakarta, from March 1, the new service EK368 will depart Dubai at 1905hrs (local time) arriving in Jakarta at 0615hrs the following day. The return flight leaves Jakarta as EK369 at 0745hrs arriving in Dubai at 1310hrs. As with the two current flights, the new service will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, in a two-class configuration.

Emirates will introduce an extra four flights a week to Kuala Lumpur from Dubai from December 3 on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with the flight on a Wednesday beginning on February 6, 2013. The new service EK344, operated by an Airbus A330-200, will depart Dubai at 2145hrs (local time) and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 0850 the following day.

The return flight, EK345 departs Kuala Lumpur at 1100hrs arriving in Dubai at 1430hrs. The new service will add an extra 2,370 seats per week between Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.

Cargo will also receive an impetus, with an extra 161 tonnes of capacity introduced per week, per direction on the Jakarta and Manila routes and an extra 85 tonnes per week, per direction on the Kuala Lumpur service.