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| Sunday, 4 April 2004 |
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Emirates airline expands European network Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, is again expanding its European network with plans to link Dubai and Vienna. The world's fastest-growing intercontinental airline will start with four non-stop flights a week to the Austrian capital from May 1 rising to daily from May 15. The new route - which will start barely 20 days after the launch of two other new Emirates services to Glasgow and Shanghai - will make Vienna the 77th destination in a route network that now already serves 74 cities in 52 countries. Europe is increasingly important for Emirates, which has earned more than 250 quality awards from customers since it was set up in 1985. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Emirates' Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide, Keith Longstaff, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Europe, and just-appointed Martin Gross, Area Manager Austria, announced the expansion at briefings for nearly 600 travel agents and media representatives from Austria and Eastern Europe, in Vienna's historic Hofburg palace. Al Ghaith said: "This new Emirates route will give Austrian air travellers and cargo shippers direct access to Dubai, one of the world's most dynamic and fast-growing centres for tourism and commerce, and a major connecting hub for dozens of cities throughout Africa, Indian sub-continent and Asia-Pacific". Austria also will benefit from increased inbound tourism and trade, as well as from Emirates direct investment in Austria's economy through its new Vienna airport and city centre offices, and the new jobs created by them. The new Airbus A330-200 service will become increasingly important as the European Union adds new members in Eastern Europe from May 1, including the more than 27 million combined population of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. Al Ghaith told the media representatives: "Vienna will be right at the heart of the newly expanded part of the European Union. Our decision to launch this route could not be timelier and it's an opportunity that we couldn't miss". Since its launch in 1985, Emirates has received more than 250 international awards for customer service. It is the world's fastest-growing intercontinental airline, one of the world's five most profitable and among the 20 largest. It is based in Dubai, one of the few cities in the world to pursue an open-skies policy where more than 100 airlines compete freely and fairly. Emirates already serves major routes in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific. It will start passenger flights to Shanghai and Glasgow on April 10 and New York on June 1, which then will become its 78th destination. Last year, it launched services to Auckland, Moscow and Brisbane, and already this year to Lagos and Accra. |
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