Emirates increases focus on West Africa with big growth in services

From 1st October, the airline will increase its flights to Lagos and Accra to a daily service and, from 1st December, Emirates will operate dedicated non-stop flights to both Lagos and Accra on a daily basis.

These increases, which are being announced just 15 months after the start of Emirates' services to Lagos and Accra, reflect the phenomenal success of the route to date.

The award-winning airline currently operates six weekly flights to Lagos and Accra, and the addition of the seventh weekly flight will represent an increase of 10 per cent in passenger and 15 per cent in cargo carrying capacity.

The introduction of non-stop flights to both these cities will greatly boost capacity further, doubling both passenger and cargo carrying capacity.

The non-stop flights will also cater to the increasing demand from neighbouring cities in the region such as Ouagadougou, Niamey, Lome, Cotonou, Freetown, Monrovia and Bamako. Flights from these cities to Accra offer connections of around three hours to Emirates' service to Dubai, opening up the extensive Emirates global network to large areas of West Africa.

From 1st October, Emirates will operate an Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the service, in a three-class configuration with 12 First Class, 42 Business Class and 183 Economy Class seats.

Emirates' Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Africa, Nasser bin Kherbash, who recently met with the Ghanaian President, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor during the latter's brief stay in Dubai said: "West Africa's business community, along with leisure travellers, have contributed to the steady rise of trade and tourism between Dubai and West Africa. In 2004 non-oil trade between the two stood at US$ 148 million."

Paa Kwesi Ansong, President of the Ghana Union of Traders' Association (GUTA) welcomed this move. He noted: "Most Ghanaian traders travel to the Middle East for purchase of textiles, mechanical appliances, transport equipment and other manufactured goods. To have one of the world's best airlines with unmatched levels of service, operating non-stop, daily flights to Dubai and onwards, definitely makes travelling a very rewarding experience."

In the past few years, West Africa has assumed a growing importance within the Emirates network. The award winning airline started flying to the region in January 2004 when it launched services to Lagos and Accra. Just over a year later, on 27th March 2005, Emirates stepped up frequencies by introducing two additional flights to both these destinations.

Earlier this year, Emirates set up a new office in Accra to serve as its West African regional hub. In line with the airline's global standards for service delivery, the new office allows staff to effectively handle a larger volume of customers, and also has provision for further expansion to cater for increasing demand.

Flight Timings:

A daily service to Lagos and Accra

Effective 1st October 2005, additional flight EK 783 will depart Dubai every Saturday at 07:30 and arrive in Lagos at 12:30, proceeding further and arriving in Accra at 13:40. Return flight EK 784 will take off from Accra's Kotoka International airport on the same day at 15:25, arrive in Lagos at 17:30, proceed further to Dubai, landing at the ultra-modern Dubai international airport at 05:35 the following day.

Non-stop services to both Lagos and Accra

Effective 1st December 2005, non-stop flight EK 783 will operate daily, departing Dubai at 09:50 and arriving in Lagos at 15:30. Return flight EK 784 will operate on the same days, departing Lagos at 18:00 and arriving in Dubai at 04:00, the following day.

Likewise, non-stop flight EK 785 will operate daily, departing Dubai at 07:30 and arriving in Accra at 12:20. Return flight EK 786 will operate on the same days, departing Accra at 18:10 and arriving in Dubai at 05:40, the following day.