Emirates Airline adds Guangzhou to its A380 destinations

Dubai-based international carrier Emirates Airline said Tuesday it will operate its flagship Airbus A380 "Superjumbo" for services between Dubai and Guangzhou, one of China's largest cities, from Oct. 1.

Guangzhou will join Emirates' extensive A380 global network covering more than 40 destinations, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Auckland, Bangkok, and Seoul.

As capital of China's southeastern coastal Guangdong Province, Guangzhou is an important tourism and trade partner of Dubai, as the vast majority of more than 300,000 Chinese nationals living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are from Guangdong.

Moreover, the UAE has over 4,000 Chinese companies and in 2014, China became Dubai's biggest trade partner.

Since the route's opening in 2008, the airline has been flying a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on its daily flights between the two cities.

The Superjumobo service will increase the flight capacity by 15 percent to meet the growing travel and trade demand from Southern China to Dubai and beyond.

Guangzhou will be the third destination in mainland China, after Beijing and Shanghai, that Emirates deploys its flagship aircraft.

The international airline currently operates flights to five destinations in mainland China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou. The last two routes were opened on May 3.

Earlier this year, Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said he hopes the airline's expansion in China would function as a catalyst to lure more Chinese firms and visitors to Dubai's 2020 World Expo.

Source : XINHUA