Emirates to Commence a Daily A380 Service to Mauritius

HARARE - Emirates, which flies daily flights from Harare to Dubai and Lusaka, today announced that it will commence a daily Airbus A380 service from Dubai to Mauritius from December 16, 2013.

The aircraft will operate as flight EK 701 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and EK 3701 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, departing from Dubai International Airport at 03.10 hours and arriving in Mauritius at 09.40. The return flight EK 702 and EK 3702 will depart Mauritius' Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport at 18.20 hours and arrives in Dubai at 01.10 the next day.

The announcement of this daily service follows the special one-off A380 flight that the airline operated to Mauritius in March 2013 to celebrate the island's 45 years of independence. Click here to watch a video of that first landing.

The new flight will replace one of the existing three class Boeing 777-300 services the airline currently operates to Mauritius. This means Emirates will continue to serve the country on a double daily basis with an additional 153 seats on the route each day across First Class, Business Class and Economy Class.

"Having brought our flagship A380 aircraft to this beautiful island for the first time in March, we could see how much appeal the aircraft had for our customers on the route. A first amongst the Indian Ocean Islands, it is a matter of great pride to be able to offer this service on a daily basis from December this year", said Mr Thierry Antinori - Emirates' Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.

"The strategic decision to add the extra capacity is a testament to Emirates' on-going commitment to supporting the tourism sector of Mauritius. There has been growing demand to support leisure traffic to the region, and the extra capacity will serve multiple destinations across our network in Europe, Middle East and Asia, with seamless connectivity through our Dubai hub," added Mr Antinori.

"The Emirates A380 flight to Mauritius will enhance the visibility and attractiveness of the destination to a wider audience," said The Honorable Minister of Tourism and Leisure of Mauritius, Mr Michael Sik Yuen. "With the Emirates A380 service now scheduled on the Dubai–Mauritius route, the change in aircraft type to A380 will not only increase the seat capacity, but will also help Mauritius as a destination, to tap into new and emerging markets which are currently being serviced by Emirates, to meet the tourism growth challenge in 2014."

Emirates has been operating to Mauritius since 2002 with three flights per week and in December 2012 commenced a double daily service due to continued growing demand. The introduction of the A380 service will allow for greater connectivity to key markets across Emirates' 33 destinations in Europe, 17 in the Middle East, 16 in the Indian sub-continent and 15 in Far East Asia. The airline operates the flights on a code-share basis with Air Mauritius. The airline currently employs 34 people at the local station.  In total, Emirates employs 225 Mauritians, including 107 Cabin Crew and one Boeing 777 Pilot.

Emirates currently has 35 A380's in its fleet which is the world's largest. Mauritius will be the 23rd destination the airline operates the aircraft to from its' hub in Dubai following: Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Manchester, Melbourne, Moscow, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and Toronto. Forthcoming operations of the aircraft to Zurich and Los Angeles have also recently announced.

The Wi-Fi equipped Emirates' A380s carry the world-renowned ice entertainment system, offering passengers nearly 1,500 channels of films, TV programmes, games and music and state-of-the-art inflight communications. On the upper deck, First Class passengers can freshen up in one of two on-board Shower Spas, while First and Business Class travellers can chat over a drink in the onboard lounge.

The Emirates A380 has carried almost 17 million passengers since the double decker was introduced five years ago. Since January of this year, Emirates' A380 passengers have been able to experience the world's first purpose built A380 concourse in Dubai, reflecting further investment in the airline's global hub, which is set to grow to a capacity of 90 million passengers by 2018. Passengers transiting through Dubai also have a variety of exciting short holiday options to visit the vibrant city, that can easily be built into a travel itinerary.
 
Tickets on the new A380 service to Mauritius are available to purchase now from www.emirates.com, your preferred travel agent or local Emirates Travel Store.