Emirates increases Melbourne flights
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3 February 2009
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The first of Emirates Airline’s additional daily services between Dubai and Melbourne has taken off, creating an additional 200,000 more seats in and out of Melbourne.
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Increasing from double daily to triple daily flights will provide extra capacity to meet the strong demand from the Middle East.
Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Woodruff said the Emirates announcement was a major gain for Victorian trade and tourism.
"The important role direct international air services provide to Melbourne and Victoria cannot be understated," Mr Woodruff said.
"Not only is Dubai an important destination for trade and tourism, it is a key transit hub for tourists and business travellers from all continents.
"The increased number of flights also increases the cargo capacity between Melbourne and valuable trade routes to and from Dubai.
"Our lack of curfew is a great plus for airlines looking to increase capacity to Australia. It means that business passengers can fly overnight; arriving in Dubai in the morning, ready for onward connections or the Middle Eastern business day," Mr Woodruff said.
Emirates, who commenced services to Melbourne in June 1996, has a large network spanning over 100 cities and has been actively promoting Australia through multi-channel publicity initiatives.
Victorian Tourism and Major Events Minister, Tim Holding welcomed Emirates Airline’s latest commitment to Melbourne as a demonstration of the strength of tourism in Victoria and a confirmation of Melbourne’s position as a leading gateway city to Australia.
“Emirates’ extra flights will allow even more international visitors to experience the excitement and vibrancy of Melbourne and regional Victoria.
“It will also provide more connections to Europe, the United Kingdom and Africa, resulting in an additional boost for Victoria’s tourism industry.
“Victoria is continuing to buck the downward trend in tourism due largely to our year-round calendar of major events, the increased number of business and conference events and the outstanding regional destinations located close to Melbourne,” Mr Holding said.
Victoria's market share of United Arab Emirates visitors to Australia is approximately 29 per cent and in 2007, visitors from the Middle East region contributed $534 million to the Australian economy.
Mr Holding said Emirates’ announcement was particularly encouraging in light of the challenging conditions currently being experienced by the global aviation sector.
“In the December 2008 quarter, a record 6.4 million passengers arrived or departed from Melbourne Airport, an increase of 234,000 people,” Mr Holding said.
“During the same period, other Australian capital cities experienced declines in the number of passengers passing through their airports.”
Emirates increase from double daily to triple daily flights between Dubai and Melbourne comes on top of other recent aviation wins for Victoria including AirAsia X’s new service between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur and Etihad Airways’ new service between Abu Dhabi and Melbourne which commences in March this year.
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