Emirates to launch direct flights to West Africa

Emirates is to start the first, regularly scheduled, non-stop air route between Dubai and West Africa early next year.

The airline will launch four weekly, direct flights from Dubai to Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital and onward to Accra, the Ghanaian capital on 2nd January 2004, with a brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Speaking at the launch news conference in Lagos, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Emirates’ Executive Vice President Commercial Operations Worldwide, said: “Every time Emirates starts services to new destinations, we strongly market them throughout our network worldwide. As a result, this new route will be good not just for our airline and passengers, but also for Nigeria and Ghana, by fostering new business opportunities from across our network.”

He added: “Emirates has built a reputation for making available to its customers a high-quality flying experience at a competitive price. We are happy that the time has come to extend our services to Lagos and Accra customers and to enable them to experience the Emirates difference first-hand.”

Cargo customers also will be able to take advantage of a total of 120 tons of air cargo capacity per week between Lagos-Accra, Middle East destinations and beyond.

Emirates’ flight EK781 will take off every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from Dubai at 03:45hrs, arriving in Lagos at 08:45hrs. The flight will continue to Accra at 09:55hrs, arriving in the Ghanaian capital at 10:05hrs. The aircraft will offer 18 First, 42 Business and 183 Economy Class seats.

The return flight, EK782, will depart Accra on the same days at 11:35hrs, arriving in Lagos at 13:45hrs. The flight will continue onto Dubai at 15:00hrs, touching down at 01:00hrs the following day. All times are local.

The arrival of Emirates in Nigeria and Ghana signals both the confidence of the airline in the potential of West Africa markets, and a welcome increase in competition, expected to upgrade the quality of air travel in the region.

Nasser Bin Kherbash, Emirates’ Vice President Commercial Operations Africa and Middle East, stated: “We are delighted to bring passengers on this route the level of services they have been hoping for, while making Dubai and destinations beyond much more accessible to them.

He added: “For instance, Emirates is a pioneer and a leader in state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment in all cabin classes. Soon our West African customers will find out why.”

The airline, though making its debut in West Africa in January, has been serving destinations in North and East Africa almost since its inception, having begun services to Cairo in 1986.

Fouad Caunhye, Regional Manager West Africa, based in Accra, heads Emirates’ operations in the region. A Mauritian national, he was formerly Regional Manager East Africa, operating from Nairobi.

Belgian, Guy Philips, the new Manager in charge of Emirates’ Nigeria operations, is a veteran of the aviation industry and has been based in Lagos for three years. He will continue to operate from there.