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Fast-growing Emirates today launched its new service to Russia - with
chocolates for customers boarding in Dubai, and Russian cabin crew to greet
travellers on the first departure from Moscow.
The five-a-week link to Moscow's Domodedovo airport will boost booming
business links between the Russian capital and the commercial heart of the
Middle East, and offer Russian customers convenient connections to Emirates'
major Far East business and leisure destinations.
Today senior Emirates executives and staff at Dubai International Airport
were joined for photographs by Svetlana Korsak, dressed in traditional Russian costume, before the first flight took off.
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It was met on arrival by Nasser Batha, Emirates' Area Manager Moscow/CIS;
Jeyhun Efendi, Sales Manager; and Russian cabin crew Hanna Bui and Oxana
Urmanova, who flew in advance to Moscow to greet travellers checking in for
Dubai.
Emirates' modern wide-bodied Airbus 330-200s with 18 First, 42 Business
and 183 Economy seats, and 15 tonnes' cargo capacity, now link Dubai with
the Russian capital - which becomes its 67th destination.
Flights leave Dubai on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and
Saturdays at 0830, reach Domodedovo at 1355, and return to Dubai to touch
down at 2310 the same day, providing the only full-service link between the
two, and encouraging the growth of trade and tourism between the UAE and
Russia.
Hamad Obaidalla, Emirates' General Manager GCC, Yemen, Iran & CIS, said:
"The Russian air travel market is expanding very fast, especially First and
Business class, and we are well placed to compete as we will be the only
airline offering a high-quality three-class product on the route.
"Domodedovo is also the ideal airport for encouraging business travel and
developing trade between Dubai and Moscow, and like Dubai has the key advantage of serving the wider region around it extremely well."
Today Russian tourists flock to Dubai for its sun, warm seas, clean beaches
and top-class hotels. Last year more than 400 Russian tour operators featured the emirate in their brochures, up by more than 20 per cent on the
year before. A quarter of a million Russian visitors are expected this year.
Cargo on the new service will include Russian exports of high-end
technology to the Indian subcontinent, valuables, and increasingly, goods
from Russia's fast-growing manufacturing industries. Imports to Russia set
to 'Fly Emirates' include Indian pharmaceuticals and produce, and Indonesian
textiles.
The start-up follows intensive preparation. Two years ago Emirates opened
a Moscow sales office, giving it a presence on the ground in Russia and a
chance to study the market so it could tailor-make its service.
Emirates is now recruiting 50 more Russian-speaking cabin crew to make
customers feel at home throughout their trip. Eight Russians and 21 Russian
speakers already fly as Emirates crew.
Domodedovo, Russia's largest and fastest-growing airport, echoes
Emirates' own commitment to quality. It has excellent road and rail links to
Moscow and two runways able to handle 75 flights an hour.
Facilities at its modern passenger terminal include automated check-in,
state-of-the-art technology, air bridges, baggage carousels, and Russia's
first airport mosque. Work is under way to expand capacity to 20 million
travellers a year by 2015, more than half of all Moscow air travellers. |
