Emirates ‘supports almost 30,000 people in UK’
Emirates claims to have supported 29,700 jobs in the UK last year, contributing the equivalent of £2.1 billion to the UK economy.
Quoting a study carried out by European consultancy Frontier Economics, the airline said its order of 140 Airbus A380 aircraft had created 7,000 jobs in the UK for the manufacture of parts including wings and leather upholstery.
This alone contributed £434 million to the GDP, it said.
According to the Dubai tourist board, the UK remains the third biggest source market for international visitors. In 2014, Dubai saw 844,691 UK tourist, an increase of 11.3% on the previous year.
In the last thirty years, Emirates has seen its operation grow from a single flight between London Gatwick to Dubai, to 112 outbound flights a week.
The introduction of a third daily Birmingham to Dubai service from August 2015 means Emirates will exceed 6,000 (6,068) annual flights from the UK to the Middle East for the first time, carrying approximately 2.2 million passengers.
Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, said: "The UK has been a key market for Emirates ever since the launch of our first flight nearly thirty years ago.
"Our operation has grown significantly as a result of the UK’s appetite for both travel and trade to Dubai, and beyond. We will soon offer 119 flights a week from five major cities, and we have every ambition to continue our rate of growth alongside our customers’ demand for our industry leading service.
"Frontier’s report illustrates just how important the aviation industry is to the UK economy. Emirates’ alone supports over thirty thousand UK jobs through our operations and our aircraft purchases from Airbus.
"By stimulating demand for travel and cargo, especially in markets underserved by other airlines, Emirates significantly contributes to the economies of the communities in which we serve."
Emirates carries 117,000 tonnes of cargo to and from the UK each year.
Dan Elliott, founder and director of Frontier Economics, said: "A key feature of the activity supported by Emirates is that it is dispersed around the UK regions, because of the way Emirates connects secondary cities to the rest of the world.
"Emirates provides unique direct services to Dubai, from Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow and a further 83 unique one-stop connections between these cities and Africa, Asia and Australia. These services facilitate trade and investment between the UK regions and key growing markets overseas."
Emirates spends approximately £1.2 billion each year on British goods and services, including the leather for its business and first class seats.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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