Emirates set to expand Milan flights in June

Emirates Airline said on Monday it will expand its services to Milan by introducing a third daily flight from June 1.

The additional daily service will take the Dubai carrier's Italian operations to a total of 49 weekly flights.

EK 101 will leave Dubai in the early hours of the morning and arrive in Milan Malpensa in time for the start of business hours in the city considered the engine room of Italy’s economy and home to the nation’s stock exchange.

“Our European network is growing stronger and stronger and a number of important developments are taking place in Italy,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ senior vice president, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation.

“This is another significant investment in the Italian market and we look forward to offering further choice and excellent value for money to travellers and businesses, including the cargo community.”

The extra A330-200 flight also brings an additional 15 tonnes of daily cargo capacity to the route. 

The latest expansion in Italy comes after news that the airline’s Venice flight would go twice daily from March 25.

Italy was also the first country in Emirates’ southern European network to be selected for an A380 service. A 489-seat double decker was deployed on the Rome route from December last year.

In February 2010, Emirates signed a five year, $78m shirt sponsorship deal with AC Milan, part of a $4.6bn trade relationship between Italy and the UAE.

“Our expansion in Europe is particularly significant in these challenging economic times. We are creating and supporting jobs in the travel industry and many other related sectors, while opening up new markets to importers and exporters,” Obaidalla added.

With a fleet of 169 aircraft, Emirates is now flying to 121 destinations, having just launched Dallas, Lusaka and Harare.