Dubai’s Emirates to launch new service to Portugal’s Porto

Dubai airline Emirates will launch a four times weekly service to Portugal’s second largest city, Porto from July 2, 2019, it announced on Tuesday.

The flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three class cabin configuration, offering eight private suites in first class, 42 business class seats and 310 economy class seats.

Flight EK197 will depart from Dubai at 9.15am and arrive in Porto at 2.30pm. The return flight, EK198, will depart Porto at 5.35pm and land in Dubai at 4.15am the next morning.

The service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Porto will become Emirates’ second destination in Portugal – the airline currently flies twice daily to capital Lisbon.

Emirates’ new service will provide travellers in northern Portugal and north-west of Spain in cities such as Vigo and Santiago de Compostela with a direct option to travel to Dubai, and onward to other destinations worldwide, a statement said.

“Porto is currently enjoying increased levels of tourism, which is also reflective of the growth in the number of visitors to Portugal as a whole,” said Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline.

“The introduction of this new flight, along with our twice daily Lisbon service, will help meet this growing demand from both leisure and business travellers, as well as provide them with more choice, flexibility and connectivity when travelling to and from Portugal.”

The new service will also allow Emirates SkyCargo to offer up to 18 tonnes of cargo capacity on the flight, giving local businesses the opportunity to increase their exports such as garments, shoes, automotive parts and cork, the statement added.

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