In a major expansion spanning two months, Emirates will increase its presence in Asia Pacific with a planned capacity increase to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta.

Starting December 2009, Emirates will introduce a fourth daily service to Bangkok, a third daily service to Sydney, two additional flights to Manila and one additional service to Jakarta.

Seventeen flights per week will be added between December 2009 and January 2010, representing 13 % growth in seat capacity and increasing airline’s operation in Asia Pacific to 187 flights per week.

Emirates’ fourth daily service to Bangkok comes into effect on 2 December operated by a state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300 offering an additional 161 tonnes of cargo capacity per week per direction on the route.

Starting on 2 December, the Australian city of Sydney will receive its third-daily Emirates flight on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, bringing Emirates’ weekly capacity to 70 flights.

The additional services combined with Emirates’ recent interline agreement with Virgin Blue, offering convenient domestic connections within Australia, means enhanced access for passengers travelling Down Under, as well as for Australians travelling to Dubai and beyond.

In December, Emirates will enhance its existing EK332 service to Manila to include Thursdays, and EK334 to include Mondays. After the increase, Emirates will operate 14 flights per week to Manila and offer an added 16.7 tonnes of cargo capacity.

Jakarta, the Indonesian capital city will receive an additional Emirates service with effect from 6 December, bringing its total operation to 11 flights per week. The service will operate to Jakarta every Sunday, returning to Dubai the following day.

Richard Jewsbury, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Far East and Australasia said: “The Middle East is one of the few regions that continues to record steady traffic growth, demonstrated by an 8% expansion in passenger demand since the beginning of the year. At the same time, Asian markets are rebounding with reports of resurgent traffic at key airports in the region. We are confident of seeing a recovery soon and are introducing additional capacity to serve the increasing demand.”

Emirates flies daily from Malta to Dubai with a stopover in Larnaca, Cyprus. The Malta route gives a convenient connection to outgoing and incoming passengers from Far East and Australia. For flight details and information on bookings and fares, one can log on to www.emirates.com.mt