Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s Emirates

DUBAI – Sister Cities Shanghai and Dubai will benefit when Emirates launches its second daily service to Shanghai next February.

Emirates launched passenger services to Shanghai in April 2004 and has seen demand on the route grow steadily, with seat load factors consistently above 90 percent.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Emirates’ executive vice president commercial operations worldwide said, “We are seeing a sharp increase in demand since the UAE and Chinese governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate travel for Chinese tourist groups to the UAE.”

Trade and tourism ties between China and Dubai have grown significantly stronger in the past few years. Since Emirates’ launched to Shanghai, the number of Chinese hotel visitors in Dubai has more than doubled from 32,265 in 2004 to 68,504 in 2006.

In 2006 China grabbed the top spot among Dubai’s importing countries, nudging India to second place. Dubai imported US$7.6 billion worth of Chinese goods and exported in excess of US$134 million to China.

EK’s wide-bodied Airbus A340-300 will serve Emirates’ second daily service with 267 seats in a three-class configuration.