Dubai: Seven years after launching operations to Osaka, Emirates has unveiled plans to begin direct services to Tokyo.
The Japanese capital will be Emirates' 102nd international destination, and closely follows the recent launch of flights to Durban and Luanda. Emirates will offer two non-stop services between Japan and Dubai. At present, Emirates operates daily services to Osaka.
Starting next March 28, Emirates will fly non-stop to Tokyo every Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The service will be operated by a state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300ER aircraft offering a three-class configuration of eight First Class Private Suites, 42 Business and 304 Economy Class seats.
Emirates' longstanding partnership with Japan Airlines will be expanded to include code sharing on the new Dubai-Tokyo-Dubai services. The flights will be identified with the Emirates ‘EK' code as well as with Japan Airlines ‘JL' code.
Delighted
Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, said: "Emirates is delighted to announce the introduction of direct, non-stop services between Dubai and Tokyo. We have always stated our desire to expand our links with Japan — a market we are extensively committed to. During the seven years of our operations to and from Osaka, Emirates embarked on a multi-million dollar programme to promote the route through our global network of offices in over 60 countries as well as through advertising, public relations, events, and company brochures and literature.
"The comprehensive campaign successfully opened up Japan to new markets across the world. As an example Japanese working in South America, who traditionally travelled trans-Pacific, started travelling to/from Japan on Emirates, taking advantage of our smooth connections via Dubai."
EK 318 will depart Dubai at 2:50am and touch down at Tokyo's Narita International Airport at 5:55pm the same day. At 9:40pm, return flight EK 319 presents travellers a convenient departure time at the end of a working day, and ensures an ideal start to business in Dubai as it touches down at 4:35am the following day. The service connects seamlessly to key centres in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Presently the UAE and Japan share robust trade relations with Japanese technology firms and UAE energy companies collaborating on several projects.
Already Dubai is home to 300 Japanese companies and the largest Japanese community in the Middle East.
