Emirates Airlines increases frequency to Asia-Pacific

Dubai: Emirates airline is increasing its services to the Asia-Pacific region starting next month, with more flights to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta.

Its seat load factor will jump by 13 per cent to the region to accommodate the expected rise in demand to the cities from Dubai.

International Air Transport Association data show that revenues in the Middle East grew by 18.2 per cent in September compared to the same month last year, and the Asia-Pacific region grew 2.1 per cent.

The rise in capacity of Middle East airlines is the result of their taking delivery of new aircraft that were originally meant to keep up with market demand calculated prior to the global economic slump.

New aircraft

Now, the aircraft are gradually being added to the fleets to handle future increases in demand as the long-term outlook for the region continues to be upbeat.

Emirates received 20 new aircraft and is still pursuing an aggressive purchase plan.

At the end of the year, the carrier's order book was 161 aircraft, worth approximately $52 billion (Dh190.8 billion).

The airline posted an annual profit in March of Dh982 million, a fall of 80.4 per cent from the previous year's record Dh5 billion.

Its revenues rose 17 per cent from Dh28.1 billion to Dh32.9 billion this year.

Of the international passenger traffic in September, the Middle East's market share was 11.3 per cent, and Asia-Pacific's was 29.3 per cent.

Richard Jewsbury, Emirates senior vice-president of commercial operations for the Far East and Australasia said: "The Middle East is one of the few regions that continue to record steady traffic growth, demonstrated by an 8 per cent expansion in passenger demand since the beginning of the year".

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