Emirates to launch daily Dubai-Cyprus-Malta service

Emirates Airline is to operate a daily flight between Dubai, Cyprus and Malta as from December 1.

The announcement was made this morning as the fast growing airline celebrates 10 years of operations to Malta. It currently flies to Malta five times a week.

Even before the daily service is introduced, the airline will increase its seat capacity on the Malta route by deploying a Boeing 777-300 instead of the Boeing 777-200. The 358-seat Boeing 777-300, to be introduced on May 2, will have a 3-class configuration of First, Business and Economy seats. It can carry 18 tonnes of cargo. Keith Longstaff Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Europe, told a press conference that the tenth anniversary of services to Malta was viewed as an important milestone by Emirates, which was very satisfied with the way traffic was growing.

"Malta was among the earlier countries in Europe to be served by Emirates and became the 41^st destination worldwide. Today, Emirates flies to 99 cities in 62 countries from its international hub in Dubai."

"We are very pleased with the commitment and professionalism shown by our Maltese staff and we thank the travel and cargo agents for helping Emirates develop its unrivalled reputation for service excellence," he said. "With more flights and the use of larger aircraft, we expect Emirates to inject even more into the Maltese economy in the coming months and years ahead."

Paul Fleri Soler, Emirates Manager for Malta and Cyprus, gave a brief overview of Emirates development in Malta pointing out a consistent increase in passenger numbers. The airline has now also become the most important for Malta in terms of air cargo, a position which is expected to be strengthened further with the daily flights.

Emirates currently employs 124 employees including pilots, cabin crew and ground handling staff involved in operations, sales and administration. This number is set to rise in the coming years.

The comments were made at a lunch which the airline hosted for tour operators and cargo movers. Also present was Mario de Marco, parliamentary secretary for tourism, who congratulated the airline and spoke of the potential which the gulf region offers to Malta not just in terms of industrial investment but also for tourism in its various forms, including language tourism.