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Mid-east expansion for Emirates

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Emirates’ onboard meals will be supplied from its $120m purpose-built flight catering facility

Emirates has recently launched three additional flights to Bahrain, reflecting its 2007 Middle East expansion campaign that has so far implemented extra capacity to Kuwait, Damascus and Beirut.

Leveraging the open skies policy prevalent in Dubai and Bahrain, the airline has introduced a third daily service every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, boosting the overall Bahrain operation to 17 flights per week.
The new frequencies are operated with an Airbus A330-200 in a two-class configuration of 27 business and 251 economy class seats. Capacity improvements on the route amount to over 800 seats and 40-plus tones of cargo per week per direction. EK 835 bound for Bahrain will take off from Dubai at 01.15 every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, arriving at its destination at 01.30. The return flight, EK 836, will depart Bahrain at 02.45 and arrive in Dubai at 04.55. All times are local.
Hamad Obaidalla, senior vice president commercial operations Gulf, Middle East and Iran at Emirates, noted: “Emirates’ increasing presence in the Middle East is designed to support the region’s escalating air travel demand.”
He added: “According to lATA, the Middle East remains the fastest growing region in the first months of this year, registering a 17.6 per cent year-on-year passenger demand increase. Bolstered by rapid economic and tourism development, the region is expected to continue record levels of growth until 2010.”
The Middle East, which accounts for close to 18 per cent of Emirates’ total passengers and 15 per cent of its total revenue for the financial year 2006-07, has experienced an almost nine per cent upsurge in capacity since January this year. Currently, Emirates operates 158 weekly flights to 12 points in the region.
Abbas Haji, area manager Bahrain at Emirates, said: “The extra flights will enable Emirates to better accommodate our customers) requirements and offer more convenient connections. Business and leisure travellers from Bahrain can seamlessly connect to over 40 destinations in Europe, Africa, the Far East and Australasia in under three hours via Dubai.”
For passengers wishing to conduct business in Dubai, the new flight schedule takes off from Bahrain in the morning, and has a same-day late evening return to Dubai.

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