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| Sunday, 7 March 2004 |
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Emirates adds 5 new services to Colombo Emirates, the world's fastest-growing major airline, will add five new services to Colombo in March, substantially increasing seat and cargo capacity to and from the Indian Ocean island. The new services routed Dubai-Colombo-Male-Dubai commence March 20 and will bring the total number of services operated by the award-winning airline to Colombo to 22 a week. Triggered by the rapid growth in tourism in the region, the new services will result in Emirates increasing passenger capacity into Colombo by a generous average of 1290 seats per week, the airline's Colombo office announced this week. The new services will be operated with Airbus A330-200 aircraft in two class configuration, with 251 Economy Class and 27 Business Class seats. Cargo capacity to Colombo will increase by 75 tons a week, with each daily service providing a hefty 15 tons of extra capacity. Emirates Area Manager Sri Lanka & Maldives, Tissa Bibile, said: "The new services and the increased capacities reinforce our position as the most active foreign carrier operating in Colombo. They also reiterate Emirates' commitment to and confidence in Sri Lanka." The new service EK 554 departs Colombo for Male and Dubai at 5.25 pm all days of the week except Wednesdays and Fridays and arrives in Dubai at 10.15 pm. The return flights depart Dubai at 9.50 am and arrive in Colombo at 4.10pm, all times local. These flights will be particularly convenient for travellers to London with the launch of a new Emirates Dubai-London service EK 007 on March 28, Emirates Sales Manager Colombo, Devika Ellepola, said. EK 007 will depart Dubai for London Heathrow at 2.40 am, arriving in London at 7.05 in the morning, providing Sri Lankans with a convenient connection. Passengers also now have the choice of morning and evening departure, particularly for London with minimum transit time. "This is an exciting development for Colombo," Mrs. Ellepola said. "London is one of our busiest routes and the extra capacity and the perfect timing of the services provide an ideal match for local market requirements." These new services have been made possible by the rapid expansion of the Emirates fleet, which is one of the youngest in the skies. The Dubai-based carrier plans to more than double the size of its current fleet to 133 aircraft by 2012. Since its launch in 1985, Emirates Airline has received more than 250 international awards in recognition of its efforts to provide unsurpassed levels of customer service. The airline has experienced rapid and consistent growth, above 20 per cent a year on average and has been profitable for the last 17 years. Financially self-sustained and unprotected, Emirates declared a record US$ 247 million profit in the 2002-03 financial year, an increase of 94 per cent over the previous year. Emirates is the world's fastest-growing full service inter-continental airline, one of the world's five most profitable and among the 20 largest ones. The airline is the launch carrier for the new ultra long-haul A340-500, which started service on December 1 on the Sydney route. It was also the first airline to order the revolutionary A380 double-decker in 2001 and will be the main launch carrier for the innovative A340-600 HGW. In 2006, Emirates will receive the first of 45 A380-800s on order, which make it the largest buyer of the yet-to-fly super-jumbo aircraft. Emirates operates services to 74 cities in 52 countries in Europe, North America (cargo only at present), the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific. |
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