Emirates Airline to go double daily to Moscow

Responding to passenger demand for increased frequencies, the Dubai-based carrier will launch the extra daily service on February 2nd next year. The new EK 131 flight will depart Dubai at 1740hrs and arrive in Moscow at 2205hrs. The return flight, EK 132, will depart Moscow at 2340hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0555hrs the following day.

Nabil Sultan, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe, said:

"The number of passengers travelling with Emirates has been growing steadily since the launch of the Moscow service 5 years ago. We have received numerous requests to increase frequencies from our customers and partners. Now from February next year, we are doing just that."

Mr Sultan, who attended a press conference yesterday in Moscow, added: "Emirates will continue offering its passengers the best travel experience on the market and what is particularly pleasing is that they now they will have even more convenient access to numerous Emirates' destinations around the world."

For example, passengers travelling between Moscow and the Seychelles or Johannesburg will benefit from reduced connection times in Dubai. Meanwhile, transit passengers will be able to avoid an overnight stop-over in Dubai when travelling between Russia and Cape Town, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Customers can also look forward to easier connections to Middle Eastern destinations such as Amman, Beirut, Damascus and Sanaa.

Emirates' passenger and cargo services to Moscow began on a five times a week basis in 2003. As demand grew, that became six times a week, and in March 2005 Dubai to Moscow went daily.

Currently, Emirates' flights to Moscow are served by the airline's Boeing 777 series. The second daily flight will increase weekly capacity by 65% in Economy Class and the number of seats available in First and Business Class will double.

On the cargo side, the extra flight will increase Emirates SkyCargo's weekly capacity into Russia to more than 220 tonnes. Currently, the main products arriving in Moscow via Emirates SkyCargo are flowers from Africa, pharmaceuticals from the Indian subcontinent and meat from Australia and New Zealand.

The additional services will also enable Sky Cargo to even better serve Russian exporters by offering them more capacity and more frequent connections with their target markets.

Emirates offers passengers in Russia a range of ground services including online check-in, preferred seat selection at the time of booking when they purchase their tickets online and chauffeur-drive for First and Business Class travellers.

Emirates currently operates services to 101 destinations in 61 countries in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Asia-Pacific.

New passenger routes for 2008 include Cape Town (launched on the 30th of March), Kozhikode (Calicut) and Guangzhou - both launched 1st July. Services to Los Angeles start October 26th, while San Francisco kicks off December 15th.

Emirates is the world's largest customer for the A380. The Emirates' version of the super-jumbo has Onboard Shower Spas and an Onboard Lounge where Premium class passengers can socialise over a drink - effectively creating a premium hotel in the sky.

The carrier is expecting to receive its second A380 on October 24th, which will be added to the aircraft serving the New York JFK route. From December 1st, the double-decker is set to fly the London Heathrow route and then Sydney and Auckland in February 2009.

Flights from Dubai:

- EK 133 departs Dubai 1015hrs, arrives Moscow 1440hrs.
- EK 131 departs Dubai 1740hrs, arrives Moscow 2205hrs (effective February 2nd, 2009).

Flights to Dubai:

- EK 134 departs Moscow 1650hrs, arrives Dubai 2255hrs.
- EK 132 departs Moscow 2340hrs, arrives Dubai 0555hrs the following day (effective February 2nd, 2009).