On January 2, Emirates started services to the beautiful Seychelles and it will launch three other new routes – Seoul on May 1, Hamburg on October 30 and Geneva on December 1 – during 2005. It is also looking to expand services to North and South America, as soon as conditions permit. 

In addition, Emirates plans to increase frequency of flights to Paris, Birmingham, Gatwick and Melbourne, and will increase frequencies to 10 other destinations. Its new aircraft orders will help us to manage the additional demand for our services. Emirates will take delivery of 12 new aircraft, boosting fleet size to around 85 by year-end.
Based on its growth projections, Emirates anticipates another year of double-digit expansion in capacity, traffic and revenues. Global economic growth, robust increase in tourist flows and greater demand for air travel from fast-developing areas such as the Indian subcontinent and the Far East will be major drivers. Thus, for Emirates, the short-term forecast basically is healthy, though high fuel prices have been putting pressure on it cost structure. Longer term, the airline has no reason to question the experts’ forecast of an average air travel annual growth of five per cent for the next 20 years.