Emirates goes daily to Narita

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 00:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Emirates, one of the fastest growing international airlines, announced an increased commitment to Japan with the introduction of two extra flights a week, ensuring a daily, non-stop service between Dubai and Narita International Airport from 1 November.

Emirates has been flying to Narita since launching the route on 28 March, 2010 and will continue to use a Boeing 777-300ER on the route with eight private suites in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 304 Economy Class seats for a total of 354 seats; and also 23-tonnes of bellyhold cargo.

EK 318 will depart Dubai at 0250hrs, touching down at Narita International Airport at 1735hrs the same day. The return flight, EK 319 departs Narita at 2200hrs offering passengers with a convenient departure time at the end of a working day and arriving in Dubai at 0350hrs the following day. The service connects seamlessly with flights from Dubai to the ever increasing number of destinations across the Emirates network, particularly the Middle East, Africa and South America.

“Japan is a vital market for Emirates and being able to increase the flights to a daily operation is a great testament to the partnership which has existed since we began operations to Japan, through Osaka, nine years ago,” said Richard Jewsbury, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Far East & Australasia. “Demand on the route continues to remain strong since we launched last year, which was reflected in Emirates recently topping ABROAD’s airline satisfaction ranking. I am sure that our passengers will appreciate being able to fly daily from both Narita and Osaka.”

Jewsbury continued, “In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Emirates continued operating flights to and from Narita as normal without interruption and maintained a service for those passengers who needed to travel during that difficult time. Emirates has been committed to helping Japan through this period of recovery. We appreciate that the Japanese authorities have recognised this commitment and allowed us to operate this daily service”

Since 2002, Emirates has carried over 1.3 million people and 60,000 tonnes of cargo on its flights to Japan. Dubai is an important hub for the re-export of Japanese manufactured products to the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. The 23 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity will support Japanese exports of mechanical components, electronic goods and automobile parts to the UAE, and its import of gas and oil products.

To ensure its passengers feel at home while they are travelling, Emirates employs over 200 Japanese cabin crew work with Japanese delicacies like sushi being served on the flights; and Japanese movies are shown on ice – Emirates bespoke inflight entertainment system.

Emirates’ longstanding partnership with Japan Airlines continues and will include a code share on the additional two Dubai-Tokyo-Dubai services, in addition to the previous services to Narita and Osaka. The flights will be identified with the Emirates ‘EK’ code as well as with Japan Airlines ‘JL’ code.

Emirates has extended its global sports sponsorship initiatives to include Japan and began supporting the Japan Open Golf Championships last year.

The airline will be sponsoring the three golf tournaments of the Open Golf Championship (Men’s, Ladies and Seniors) once again in 2011.