Emirates to resume Guinea flights

Emirates airline has announced that it will resume flights to Conakry, the capital of Guinea, from October 30, 2016.

The flight to Conakry will be linked to Emirates’ four times weekly service between Dubai and Dakar. Key destinations for travellers from Guinea include Dubai, Saudi Arabia, China, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and India.

A Boeing 777-300ER aircraft was introduced on the route between Dubai and Dakar today (2 August 2016) ahead of the relinking of Conakry, which will provide additional capacity and an enhanced on board customer experience. The aircraft will be in a three class cabin configuration, with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class.

Once Conakry re-joins Emirates’ global network of more than 150 destinations, the airline will serve 28 destinations in Africa, providing expansive connectivity to and from the continent.

In addition to passenger operations, Emirates SkyCargo will also reintroduce its services and offer about 20 tonnes of cargo capacity per flight for key exports such as seafood, fruit, vegetables and textiles, and imports of mobile phones, pharmaceuticals and mining equipment.

Emirates flight EK797 will depart Dubai every Tuesday, and EK795 will depart Dubai every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 07h25 and arrive in Conakry at 13h40. The flight will then depart Conakry at 15h10 and arrive in Dakar 16h35. The return flight will depart Dakar at 18h05 and arrive in Dubai at 07h35 the next morning.

Emirates first launched its Dubai-Conakry-Dakar-Dubai route in October 2013. The airline made the decision to suspend services in August 2014 after a review of its operations.

Etihad’s Dreamliner commences Shanghai service

Etihad Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched down in Shanghai today from Abu Dhabi on its first flight into China.

The new Dreamliner features the airline’s next-generation business and economy class cabins, and will operate with 299 seats, 28 in Business class and 271 in economy, representing a 14 per cent capacity increase on the route.

Flight EY862 from Abu Dhabi departed at 10.25pm yesterday from the Middle East arriving in Shanghai at 11.10am today. The inaugural flight from Shanghai (EY867) will depart again on 3 August at 00.30am, arriving back in Abu Dhabi at 6.15am the same day.

Peter Baumgartner, Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said: “Since launching flights between Shanghai and Abu Dhabi four years ago, we have experienced first-hand the huge growth of China’s outbound tourism market and enjoyed strong demand from both business and leisure travellers.”

“The decision to upgrade to the Boeing 787 reflects the importance of Shanghai and China to the airline. Shanghai is a modern metropolis and a global economic, financial, trading and shipping centre, which underlines its importance within Etihad Airways’ global network and supports the introduction of the new aircraft.”

Baumgartner continued: “The new Boeing 787 services will help to support the increasing demand for outbound tourism from Shanghai and its surrounding cities in Eastern China. The additional capacity will enable more Chinese business and leisure travellers to enjoy seamless one-stop connections over the Abu Dhabi hub to over 40 destinations across the Gulf region, Europe, Africa and South America.”

China has recently surpassed the USA as the biggest business travel market in the world, according to the Global Business Travel Association, representing US$291.2 billion spending on business travel in 2015. The Dreamliner will assist Etihad Airways’ growing reputation amongst the business community in China, with the aircraft specifically catering to the long-haul business market. 

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