By Akram Medhat
Emirates has announced plans to boost its services to Cairo by adding 4 regular weekly flights between Cairo and Dubai as of October 29, raising the number of flights to 21 a week, or 3 flights a day, up from 17 flights currently.
For his part, Orhan Abbas, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Africa, said Emirates is committed to providing more travel options for its customers, enabling them to continue their journeys smoothly to various destinations across the Middle East, the Americas, Africa and Australia, including destinations such as Bahrain, Muscat, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, Cape Town, Entebbe, Melbourne and Sydney, adding that strengthening the company's services to Cairo supports the growth of the country's economy by facilitating the movement of tourist and business travelers as well as air cargo.
Like the flights Emirates currently operates between Dubai and Cairo, the four new flights will be operated with Boeing B777-300ER wide-body aircraft with a capacity of 360 seats, divided into 8 private suites in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 310 seats in Economy Class. The new flights will thus add 1,440 seats a week on this route in each direction, and cargo capacity of 23 tonnes on each flight. They will also give members of "Emirates Skywards", the loyalty program rewarding frequent flyers, more opportunities to earn miles on their trips.
The additional flight EK926 will depart Cairo airport at 12:45 a.m., arriving at Dubai airport at 6:15 a.m., while flight EK925 will depart Dubai International Airport at 8:50 p.m., arriving in Cairo at 11:05 p.m.
Emirates passengers to and from Cairo enjoy unique entertainment options, including more than 2,500 channels on ice, Emirates' award-winning inflight information, communications and entertainment system, which offers the latest movies, music, modern and classic TV and radio programs, digital books and video games. Families also enjoy many products and services designed especially for children, including free toys, children's meals and a wide range of children's movies and TV programs, in addition to priority check-in and boarding and the use of strollers for infants at Dubai International Airport.
Passengers are allowed two free bags weighing 23 kg each in Economy Class, while First and Business Class passengers are allowed two free bags weighing 32 kg each.
It is worth noting that Emirates launched its services to Cairo in April 1986 with 3 weekly flights, and the route has seen major development in terms of both the number of flights and available seat capacity to meet growing passenger demand, with the carrier currently operating 17 weekly flights between Cairo and Dubai. More than 2,000 Egyptian employees also work at the Emirates Group in various positions, including 800 cabin crew members.
