Dubai’s Emirates to launch four additional weekly flights to Cairo

Dubai airline Emirates will launch four additional flights a week to Egyptian capital Cairo from October to meet increased demand on the route, it announced on Wednesday.

The airline currently offers a thrice-daily service to Cairo.

From October 28, 2019, the four new flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, will take the total number of weekly Emirates flights serving Cairo to 25.

The additional Dubai – Cairo flight EK921 will leave Dubai at 12pm and arrive in Cairo at 2.15pm. The return flight, EK922, will depart Cairo at 4.15pm and will arrive in Dubai at 9.35pm.

Similar to the current service, the new flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER in a three-class configuration featuring eight private suites, 42 business class and 304 economy class seats.

The new flights will add 1,416 seats each way per week on the route.

They will also add 160 tonnes of cargo capacity per week to and from Cairo on top of the more than 800 tonnes of cargo capacity already provided on Emirates’ flights.

For the calendar year 2018, Emirates SkyCargo transported over 35,750 tonnes of cargo including both exports of close to 19,750 tonnes and imports of 16,000 tonnes. Close to 90 per cent of the commodities exported from Cairo are fruits and vegetables, the statement said.

“Cairo is a very popular destination for both business and leisure travellers, and the additional flights will provide our customers with greater flexibility in their travel choices,” said Orhan Abbas, Emirates’ SVP, Commercial Operations Africa.

“There is a clear demand for our products and services. We’ve seen a consistent demand for the Emirates experience, with passenger occupancy on the route averaging 90 per cent. These additional flights will not only cater to the growing demand, but also help support tourism and trade in Egypt,” he added.

Emirates started operations to Cairo in April 1986 with three flights a week.

The airline also opened a dedicated Emirates lounge in Cairo airport in 2018.

Globally, the airline employs more than 2,000 Egyptian nationals in a variety of roles across the Emirates Group, including over 1,000 cabin crew.