Emirates to add a third daily flight to Riyadh

Karachi – December 09, 2015 – Emirates will boost its services to Riyadh with the addition of a third daily flight to the Saudi capital from 15 December 2015. The addition of the third daily service will take the total number of weekly Emirates flights serving Riyadh to 21.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Centre said: “Emirates’ expanded schedule to Riyadh will offer more seamless connections for our customers but most importantly will broaden travel options for business travellers and families alike who are looking to visit Dubai. There are clear traffic flows between Riyadh and Dubai therefore boosting our services and increasing our capacity with a third flight makes business sense.”

So far this year, over 450,000 passengers have travelled on the Dubai-Riyadh service.

In 2014, Saudi Arabian visitors to Dubai topped more than 1.5 million, according to a Deloitte Quarterly Middle East Hotel Market Insight Report. Dubai continues to be an attractive destination for Saudi visitors, offering them both luxury and value with an extensive array of leisure and family activities to suit every taste, in addition to hotels for all budgets. As a business hub, Dubai has become a springboard to emerging eastbound markets and Africa and is an ideal destination for doing business. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the UAE’s largest trading partner in the region, with non-oil trade reaching an estimated AED 256 billion in the first quarter of 2014, according to Saudi Arabian Federal Customs Authority data.

The third flight will be serviced by the A330-200 in a combination of a three class and two-class configuration. Emirates flight EK815 departs Dubai at 0125hrs and arrives in Riyadh at 0225hrs. The return flight, EK816 departs Riyadh at 0345hrs and arrives in Dubai at 0645hrs.

All cabins are equipped with Emirates’ award-winning ice entertainment system with over 700 channels to choose from, including movies, television programmes, games, audio books and music from across the world.

As with all Emirates flights, passengers on the Riyadh service will enjoy the extra generous Emirates baggage allowance of 30kg in Economy Class, 40 kg in Business Class and 50kg in First Class.

Along with Riyadh, Emirates operates to Jeddah, Dammam and Medinah Al Munawarah in Saudi Arabia. Emirates currently serves Saudi Arabia with 59 flights a week. This will increase to 70 flights a week from 15 December with the additional services to Jeddah and Riyadh.