Dubai: The UAE and Japanese governments have agreed to boost air links between the two countries, drawing cheers from Emirates and Etihad that welcomed the prospect of expanding their Asia services.
Starting from March 2010, the UAE-based carriers will be able to have 35 weekly passenger flights to Osaka and Nagoya using any type of aircraft.
They will also have the rights to operate 10 weekly flights to Tokyo, shared equally between Emirates and Etihad, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the federal regulatory body said in a statement yesterday.
Japan and the UAE have also agreed to have nine weekly cargo services.
The discussions took place last week between Japanese officials and a UAE delegation headed by GCAA director general Saif Mohammad Al Suwaidi.
Emirates operates daily services to Osaka and Nagoya and hopes eventually to have daily services to the Japanese capital as well.
It began flying to Osaka in 2002 and to Nagoya in 2006.
"Emirates has always stated its desire to launch services to Tokyo and through such services further expand its links with Japan," a company spokes-person said, without indicating when the new service may be launched.
"We have been granted the right to operate five weekly services to Tokyo effective 2010. Eventually, we hope to increase it to a daily service."
