Daily flights to Dubai as Emirates expands Cyprus links

FLYING in the face of a global credit crunch, Emirates airlines yesterday announced the addition of two flights two their Malta-Cyprus-Dubai route, which will see the service upgraded to daily flights from December 1.

The UAE-based carrier has been operating out of Larnaca since 1994, when the group began with flights three times a week. The route has grown steadily in popularity, the addition of the Malta route in 2005 and two extra flights added. According to Emirates Manager for Cyprus and Malta, Paul Fleri Soler, 100,000 people arrived in Cyprus via Emirates last year – a 34 per cent increase on 2006.

“Cyprus and Dubai actually complement each other as destinations,” said visiting Emirates’ Senior Vice President, for Commercial Operations in Europe Nabil Sultan, referring to the Gulf state’s favourable shopping status and the Mediterranean island’s food and laidback atmosphere.

Sultan added that he believed there was much scope for the creation of real tourist links between the two countries and the wider Middle East, but it was important that the broader hurdle of visas was overcome between Cyprus and the region’s countries.

The move is part of a global upgrade which spreads to popular routes across Asia and Australasia.

While conceding that his organisation was also affected by the current crisis, Sultan said Emirates preferred to look beyond the short-term issues and streamline, rather than cut back on services.

This was confirmed yesterday, where Sultan outlined the grand plans for the massive new concourse in Dubai, which hopes to service 4.3 million people a year. The new premises will incorporate two hotels, gardens and entertainment for long-suffering transit passengers.

As to rumours that Emirates were sniffing around ailing Greek carrier Olympic airlines, Sultan quickly laughed them off.

“Don’t believe everything you hear.”

The routes will be served Boeing 777 aircrafts departing Larnaca each day at 7.30pm and landing in Dubai three hours and 10 minutes later.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.