Emirates to launch fourth daily flight to Johannesburg

Dubai based airline, Emirates, is to commence a fourth daily flight between Dubai and Johannesburg from October 26, 2014.

This will bring Emirates’ total number of flights between the two countries to 49 a week.

Operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, the flight will depart Dubai at 23:20hrs and arrive at Johannesburg at 05:35hrs the following day.

The return flight departs Johannesburg at 09:30hrs and arrives in Dubai at 19:40hrs.

The B777-300ER features 354 seats in a three-class configuration - eight seats in First Class, 42 in Business Class and 304 in Economy Class.

Orhan Abbas, Emirates Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations, Latin America, Central and Southern Africa said: “The introduction of the fourth daily service between Dubai and Johannesburg is a reflection of the growing passenger demand for flights between these two important business and tourism hubs.“

“The increased frequency gives our customers greater flexibility in their travel plans and enhances connectivity to other flights on the Emirates’ network through the Dubai hub."

He added that “We have seen a healthy increase year-on-year in passenger numbers on the route. Johannesburg remains an important gateway for in bound traffic from the UK, USA, Germany France, GCC, Iraq and Perth with outbound traffic connecting to India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok and Jordan, Qatar and Iran in the Middle East.”

“The increased capacity demonstrates our commitment to South Africa and our confidence in the strength of the market. With now 49 weekly flights to South Africa, Emirates is well positioned to connect global businesses as well as leisure travellers to the continent’s most exuberant economy and exciting travel destination.”

In a new initiative, Emirates and South African Airways will extend its code-share partnership to include the brand new service between Dubai and Johannesburg. The expansion of the code-share agreement is a reflection of the successful and long-standing partnership between the two carriers which are working on key commercial initiatives together.

Emirates offering across all its cabin class include meals prepared by gourmet chefs, award-winning service from the airline’s international cabin crew recruited from over 120 countries, as well as ice, the airlines’ entertainment system with over 1,600 channels of onboard entertainment including movies, television programmes, games, audio books and music.

Emirates’ footprint in 2014 will grow to include Chicago in the US (August 5), Oslo in Norway (September 2) and Brussels in Belgium (September 5) after Kiev, Taipei and Boston announced earlier in the year.

Emirates currently serves more than 142 destinations around the globe with a young, technologically-advanced fleet of over 220 wide-bodied aircraft that are equipped with industry-leading comforts. Additionally, Emirates has the largest fleet of Airbus A380s with the 50th A380 added to the fleet earlier this month.