Emirates adds capacity to Asia-Pacific destinations

Emirates announced Wednesday its plans to expand its footprint in the Asia Pacific, the airline increasing its capacity to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta.

Over a two month period from December 2009 to January 2010, the airline said it would introduce 17 more flights per week, representing a 13 percent growth in seat capacity.

From 2 December, the airline will add a fourth daily service to Bangkok and a third daily service to Sydney and from 6 December an additional service to Jakarta.

Two additional services to Manila will also be added from December, to operate on Thursdays and Mondays.

The carrier said it had chosen to add more services to Manila and Jakarta due to import and export reasons while services to Bangkok aimed to support Thailand’s economic recovery.

Emirate said flights to Sydney were a reflection of its commitment to Australia, with flights timed to offer a same day service to Europe.

“The eagerly-anticipated service presents Sydneysiders with the opportunity to have breakfast in Sydney, lunch in Dubai and dinner in Europe” the company said.

Emirates Commercial Operations Far East and Australasia Senior Vice President Richard Jewsbury said the extra capacity would also serve the increasing demand in the Middle East region.

“The Middle East is one of the few regions that continues to record steady traffic growth, demonstrated by an 8% expansion in passenger demand since the beginning of the year” he said.

“We are confident of seeing a recovery soon and are introducing additional capacity to serve the increasing demand”