Commencing Monday, 1st December, Emirates flight EK656 will depart Dubai International Airport at 0210hrs, and arrive in Malé at 0715hrs, adding seven more inbound flights a week to the Maldives, increasing passenger and cargo capacity on the route by a third.
The outbound flight EK657 will depart Malé International Airport, Hulhulé at 0845hrs and arrive in Dubai at 1155hrs, all times local.
Both flights offer excellent connecting times to flights from and to key destinations in the UK and Europe.
For passengers visiting Malé for example, the connecting time in Dubai for inbound Emirates flights from London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Paris, Milan, Moscow, Frankfurt and Zurich is under three hours.
Similarly, the new outbound flight offers a connecting time of three hours or less with Emirates flights to London, Birmingham, Manchester, Frankfurt and Madrid.
“The Maldives is a popular tourist destination among travellers from Europe.
This third daily flight could therefore significantly help boost arrivals in to this idyllic tropical paradise,” said Chandana de Silva, Emirates Area Manager – Sri Lanka & Maldives.
“The increased cargo capacity on the route will also be welcomed by the Maldivian export community.”
The seven new flights a week will be operated with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in two class configuration, adding 294 Business Class and 2,702 Economy Class seats each way per week on the route, as well as 23 tonnes of additional capacity for cargo per flight.
Both cabins are equipped with Emirates’ award-winning ice entertainment system with up to 1,800 channels on-demand entertainment to choose from, including movies, television programmes, games, audio books and music from across the world.
As with all Emirates flights, passengers on the new Malé – Dubai services will enjoy the extra generous Emirates baggage allowance of 30kg in Economy Class and 40 kg in Business Class.
The additional services also provide more opportunities for members of Skywards, the award-winning frequent flyer programme of Emirates airline, to earn Skywards Miles on their travel.
In celebration of the launch of these additional flights from the Maldives, Emirates has announced a special Economy Class return fare of US$ 849 to Dubai, valid only on EK657 and EK656, until 10th December 2014.
Emirates, which launched services to Malé on 27th May 1987, currently operates two daily flights to Dubai and a daily flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The award-winning international carrier now flies to 147 destinations in 84 countries and territories, including cargo-only services.