DUBAI’S Emirates airline has plans to order up to 50 or more mid-size jets, a report said.

The airline was talking to Airbus about its new A350XWB and to Boeing about its 787 Dreamliner to expand its fleet of planes in the 250- to 350-passenger category, a anewspaper report quoted Mike Simon, senior vice president of corporate communications for Emirates, as saying.
“It probably would be around 50, or maybe more,” Simon said. At around $150 million per plane according to list price, such an order would come out to $7.5 billion. Emirates already has about 100 planes on order, including 43 of the giant Airbus A380s which are suffering a 22-month delay, the report said.

HOTEL DEAL
Emirates has tied up with lastminute.com, the UK’s largest hotel intermediary which will provide customers access to over 100,000 three- to five-star hotels in 59 countries via the airline’s website.
Hotel options will be promoted on emirates.com under the heading ‘Book a hotel’ and will service customers’ global hotel needs across 59 international markets where Emirates operates. The agreement will be live on emirates.com for an initial 18 months.
The service will give customers access to over 100,000 city and resort-based hotels worldwide, with access to lastminute.com’s full range of luxury, holiday and hip hotels. It will initially be available in English with customers able to pay for their accommodation in pounds sterling, US dollars and the euro. A wider range of languages and currency will be introduced in the future.

BANGLADESH
The airline is set to add three more weekly flights to Dhaka raising the number to 14 from March as part of its plan to expand business in Bangladesh, an official said.

THAI HOLIDAY
Emirates Holidays is offering a bargain package combining a five-star resort on the tropical island of Phuket with free luxury holiday nights in Bangkok.
The exclusive Emirates Holidays offer gives travellers, who book five nights at the Banyan tree Phuket beach hideaway an extra two free nights at Banyan Tree Bangkok, the city’s tallest, all-suite, luxury hotel. The offer is topped with a complimentary massage treatment at either hotel. It is valid until January 31.