Emirates airline has been granted rights to operate additional flights into Australia, after the successful negotiations between the governments of Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

Emirates will gradually increase its frequency to the four cities it currently serves – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – and the new agreement will allow Emirates to grow its services from 49 flights a week to 84 flights a week between now and 2011.

With its hub in Dubai, Emirates is in a unique position to connect passengers and cargo east and west as well as north and south of the equator. Australia is an important tourism and trade market for its customers worldwide and Emirates has been actively increasing its services to the country since the launch of its operations to Australia in 1996.

Emirates currently serves Australia with double dailies to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and a daily flight to Brisbane. In the last decade, the airline has welcomed over two-and-a-half-million passengers on its Australian flights. Emirates is a key player in Australia’s multi-billion dollar trade relationship with the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East region.

Emirates has invested over A$1 billion in Australia in the last decade, including a dedicated Emirates Lounge in each of its four destinations in the country. The airline has also invested over A$65 million in the Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa in New South Wales.

The airline operates five flights weekly between Malta and Dubai via Larnaca in Cyprus, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on a comfortable wide-bodied Airbus A330-200. The Malta route gives a convenient connection to outgoing and incoming passengers from Australia and the Far East.