Emirates' longest flight makes inaugural touchdown in LA
Inaugural Emirates flight marks its longest route
Los Angeles: Emirates' maiden flight to the US west coast arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at 1.30pm local time on Sunday.
Los Angeles Airport welcomed Emirates flight EK 215 with the customary water cannons showering the aircraft from both sides as it taxied towards the terminal after touchdown.
Dubai to Los Angeles is the longest route yet in the Emirates network. The flight covered 13,417.5 kilometres in 16 hours and 45 minutes,d arriving at its destination on schedule.
New destinations
Emirates is flying its Boeing 777-200LR on the route, offering 266 seats in a three class configuration and providing up to 10 tonnes of cargo capacity.
The aircraft is fitted with eight private suites in first class, 42 lie-flat beds in business class, and 216 seats in economy class.
The new route joins Emirates' growing network of American destinations including a double daily service to New York's JFK International Airport and a daily service to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
On December 15, Emirates will introduce another service to the West Coast with a non-stop flight to San Francisco.
To coincide with the launch of the direct flights, Emirates Holidays is offering a range of packages to California.
In addition to the strong tourist and business passenger traffic between Dubai and Los Angels, Emirates expects to capitalise on the strong potential for cargo operations between the two cities.
"Going by the response we have had from our US customers...we are confident that Los Angeles will emulate the success of our other US stations," said an Emirates statement.
