Emirates touches down in Edinburgh

Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, today celebrated the inaugural flight of its new service between Dubai and Edinburgh. The EmiratesBoeing 777-300ER touched down in the Scottish capital just before 3pm local time, making Edinburgh the airline’s second destination in Scotland and the eighth in the United Kingdom.

Emirates flight EK023, with a group of VIP guests and media on board, was welcomed by Edinburgh Airport with a water cannon salute.

To celebrate the new service, Emirates and Edinburgh Airport held a launch event hosted by Hubert Frach, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations West, and Richard Jewsbury, Divisional Vice President, UK, alongside Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport.

“Today’s flight marks the start of greater connectivity and more convenience for leisure and business travellers from the wider Edinburgh area and locations further afield, such as Aberdeen and Dundee, to destinations across Emirates’ global network via Dubai. While for inbound travellers, particularly from cities in Asia and Australia, there is now a direct flight option to Scotland’s most visited city by tourists,” said Mr Frach.“In addition to tourism, the new flight will also directly connect Edinburgh to new opportunities for business, trade and education across our network.”

Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive, Edinburgh Airport, said: “This is a great day for Scotland and Edinburgh. We know the power of connectivity – the more we can connect with cities and countries across the globe, the more opportunity for passengers. It makes our country stronger and culturally richer.

“Our partnership with a world class brand like Emirates strengthens and grows our country’s connectivity and we look forward to working with them to the benefit of passengers across the world. We’ve built our success on making Edinburgh where Scotland meets the world and today’s flight see us take a major step on that journey.”

Malcolm Roughead OBE, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “The launch of this Emirates service from Dubai to Edinburgh, coupled with the existing Emirates service to Scotland, strengthens the country’s reputation as a world-class destination and presents the Scottish tourism industry with a fantastic opportunity to further attract visitors via this major global air hub.

“This new service will further boost connectivity with key markets in Australasia, India and Southern China. It will particularly support increased demand from our Australian visitors, who in the last five years have seen trips rise by a quarter to 157,000 and spend by a third to £134 million. This important market stays longer and visits further afield when travelling to our shores and as such plays a strategic role in developing Scotland as a year-round sustainable visitor destination.”

The Boeing 777 deployed on the route has a three-class cabin configuration, with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seats in Business Class and 304 spacious seats in Economy Class. As with all Emirates’ flights to the UK, customers will enjoy the more than 3500 channels of on demand audio and visual entertainment on the airline’s award-winning ice system, as well as the warm hospitality from its multinational cabin crew.

Other destinations which Emirates serves in the UK, include London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow.

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To contact the Emirates Press Office, please call +44 (0) 207 025 6696 or email emiratesUK@redconsultancy.com