Emirates fuels growth between two of the world's fastest growing cities

The airline will increase its seven-times-a-week Lagos service to twice daily from February 1st next year, further supporting trade in Nigeria and expanding channels of investment between the west African nation, the UAE and beyond.

The new flight, EK 781, will depart Dubai at 1415hrs and arrive in Lagos at 1955hrs. The return flight, EK 782 will depart Lagos at 2135hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0735hrs the following day.

Under the revised schedule, the existing flight, EK783, will be brought forward slightly to depart Dubai at 0735hrs and arrive in Lagos at the earlier time of 1315hrs, providing additional scope for afternoon business appointments. The return flight, EK784, will depart at 1500hrs and arrive in Dubai at 0100hrs the following day.

Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Africa, West Asia & Indian Ocean, said: "This is an exciting new development for Emirates in Africa, just four years after we started services to Lagos. Africa is one of the world's trading powerhouses and Emirates is supporting that commercial activity. We are seeing clear demand for more flights and that is what we are delivering. At the same time, we are improving two-way connectivity between a host of places, particularly Bahrain, Doha, Muscat, the Indian Subcontinent, East Asia and Australasia.

The Lagos route is currently served by a Boeing 777-300ER, offering 12 seats in First Class, 42 in Business and 304 in Economy. The aircraft carries the extremely popular in-flight entertainment system, ice - designed to enthral passengers across all cabin classes and make the world seem smaller as time flies by. The new service will also be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, offering a slightly enhanced capacity of 12 First, 42 Business and 310 Economy Class seats.

Mr Obaidalla said:

"With the start of this double daily flight to one of Africa's major freight destinations, we also expect a further increase in cargo trade. Emirates SkyCargo currently serves 15 destinations in Africa and recently strengthened its African footprint with the introduction of freighter services to Lagos. As of February 1st, our cargo capacity will jump from 280 tonnes to 440 tonnes a week."

Household goods, electronics, mobile phones, computer spare parts and clothing items are among the top commodities carried by SkyCargo into Nigeria, much of which come from India and the Far East. Main exports include Kola Nuts, tropical fish, spare parts and courier traffic, bound for Middle East and Far East markets.

"With the opening of our world leading Emirates Terminal 3, passengers from Africa and elsewhere on the airline's network, have even more reasons to fly in and out of Dubai. The new facility is exceptionally well geared to passengers, especially business travellers, who can be forgiven for thinking that Terminal 3 is a destination in itself,"

Mr Obaidalla added.