Emirates adds capacity, bigger jets to China amid higher demand

Dubai: Emirates is planning a 40% increase in flights to China on "healthy" demand, one of the airline's top executives said, a contrast with other foreign carriers that are pulling back from the world's second-biggest economy.

Dubai-based Emirates is also aiming to reintroduce double-decker Airbus SE A380 jets on its China routes, reversing an earlier downgrade to smaller Boeing Co. 777 aircraft, Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim said.

"We're working closely with authorities in China to further ramp up flights through either new places, or adding capacity in existing points," Kazim said.

Emirates currently flies twice a day to Shanghai and Beijing, and daily to Guangzhou. Downgrading to smaller Boeing jets cut its seat capacity into Asia's largest economy by 30% to 12,000 a week, Cirium data show.

Emirates and Etihad Airways recently secured additional Chinese flight slots under a renegotiation of bilateral flights between China and the United Arab Emirates, Kazim said.

The new deal permits 14 additional flights each per week from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, allowing Emirates to increase services from 35 at present to 49. Chinese carriers would share the same increased number - that is, 28 in total - of traffic rights.

Kazim described China demand as "healthy." "We're quite optimistic, seeing China business is gradually coming back and people have started travelling."

Amid strengthening geopolitical and financial ties, China and the Middle East are conducting more business across several industries, helping to increase passenger demand.