Emirates Launches Flights To Tripoli -Sixth African Gateway

Tripoli became Emirates' sixth destination in Africa on March 25 when thrice weekly flights start between Dubai and the Libyan capital, boosting business and trade links and strengthening ties with Middle East and North African countries.

Two days later, on March 27, Emirates opened a fourth gateway in Germany with the start-up of daily services between Dubai and Dusseldorf, a manufacturing, financial, and transportation centre at the heart of European markets.

Emirates' Chairman, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, said: "We are most grateful to the Libyan authorities for allowing us to start services to Tripoli and pleased to be able to extend our services to yet another Arabic-speaking destination. This will allow us to further strengthen already well-established ties among the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. This new operation will open up the region further and help foster business and trade links between Dubai and Libya." Emirates already flies to Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.

The flights will be operated via Malta on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with an Airbus A300-600R in three-class configuration with 18 First, 35 Business Class and 163 Economy Class seats. In addition, the aircraft offers capacity for around nine tonnes of cargo with a full passenger load.

Flight EK445 departs Dubai at 09:00, arrives Malta at 13:00, departs Malta at 14:15, and arrives Tripoli at 15:20. It then departs Tripoli at 16:50, and arrives Dubai at 00:45 in time to connect with all flights to the Far East and Australia.

Flights to Malta, a convenient stepping-stone to Tripoli, were previously routed via Athens. From March 25, Athens will be linked instead with Larnaca and flights will be routed Dubai-Larnaca-Athens and return. Beirut, previously linked with Larnaca, will have direct, non-stop services from March 25 every day except Thursdays when flights will be routed via Abu Dhabi.

Libya, rich in oil and gas reserves, is expected to become a major business destination, but the country also holds great potential for leisure travel with 2,000 miles of beaches and a wealth of archaeological treasures.

Emirates SkyCargo expects that the main imports into Tripoli will be oil field equipment from Europe, electronic goods from the Far East including Japan and garments from the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent.

Exports are expected to include personal effects to the Indian Subcontinent and Far East from the large expatriate communities in Libya, seasonal vegetables and oil well spares for maintenance.

A cargo manager and dedicated team will be appointed shortly. Pradeep Kumar, General Manager Cargo Revenue Optimisation, said: "Dubai is the ideal gateway for Libya which has a large demand for all consumer goods. We are very excited about this new destination."