The announcement comes as a result of continued demand for Emirates’ service between Dubai and Glasgow, which began in 2004. Since then, the international airline of the UAE has carried over 1.7 million passengers and tens of millions of kilos of cargo.
The additional flight, coupled with an aircraft upgrade on the existing service, will increase Emirates’ capacity to Glasgow by 47 per cent, an extra 199 seats each way per day. It will also provide an additional 13 tonnes of daily cargo capacity.
“This announcement illustrates our commitment to Scotland and to our wider UK route network in difficult economic times,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation. “Our Glasgow route has been a real success story, and we are confident that there is demand for additional services flying to and from Dubai and beyond to our global network of over 100 destinations.
“The introduction of a First Class cabin on both daily flights also means greater choice for passengers, while increased cargo capacity means more export business opportunities for cargo shippers in Scotland ,” added Mr Obaidalla.
The Glasgow authorities estimate that the twice-daily service will deliver a local economic benefit of AED 187 million (£33 million) with almost 140,000 inbound passengers in 2012 alone. Over the next five years, the route will be worth more than AED 1.1 billion (£200m) to the city, bringing more than 846,000 inbound passengers to Glasgow through to 2016.
“As part of our strategy to support economic growth, the Scottish Government is determined to improve our international air connections. The announcement of this new expanded service cements our growing business, education and cultural links with Dubai and provides an additional link to this key gateway through which to boost trade and tourism opportunities with key global markets such as south and south-east Asia, Africa and Australasia,” commented Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
