DUBAI – Emirates today launched the 24th A380 destination with the inauguration of a daily Airbus A380 daily fight to Mauritius. The airline signed a 10 year commercial cooperation agreement with Air Mauritius, and the renewed memorandum of understanding with the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority. 

Emirates in 2012 carried over 350,000 passengers and 6,000 tones of cargo between Mauritius and it’s network.

The inaugural A380 daily service arrived at Mauritius’ Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport with over 500 passengers and a delegation from Emirates, including: Thierry Antinori, executive vice president, chief commercial officer; Adnan Kazim, divisional senior vice president, planning, aeropolitical and industry Affairs; Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president, commercial operations, center (GCC, Middle East, Iran & West Asia) and Orhan Abbas, senior vice president, commercial operations (Latin America, Central & Southern Africa).

It was met on arrival by the Michael Sik Yuen, minister of tourism and leisure, Republic of Mauritius; Andre Viljoen, chief executive officer Air Mauritius; Anand Kinnoo, acting director of Civil Aviation, Republic of Mauritius and Rohit Ramnawaz, chairman, Airport of Mauritius.
 
Thierry Antinori, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Emirates Airline, said: “Since August 2008 Emirates has served over 18 million passengers on our A380s. Our customers love it, and we continue to see a big demand to fly on the aircraft.

“Our A380 service to Mauritius means passengers from key markets such as London, Paris, Moscow and Shanghai, flying via our hub in Dubai, now have the chance to experience a seamless Emirates A380 experience including the world-class service and product across first class, business class and economy class for which the airline is renowned.

“The larger aircraft also means we will be able to bring 153 more passengers each day to this beautiful island destination, thus further strengthening our support for the country’s tourism industry and trade sectors.”

Emirates worked with 100 local Pirogue fishermen to create a Mauritian-style “Hello A380” greeting.

The Emirates Airbus A380 aircraft will operate as flight EK 701 departing from Dubai International Airport at 03:10 hours and arriving in Mauritius at 09:40. The return flight EK 702 will depart at 18.20 hours and arrives in Dubai at 01.10 the next day.

Emirates also operates a second daily flight to the country using a Boeing 777-300. 

Emirates currently operate the Airbus A380 aircraft to: Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Manchester, Mauritius, Melbourne, Moscow, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and Toronto.

Emirates has a fleet of 42 Airbus A380 aircraft in operation and 98 on order and is considered largest operator of the A380 in worldwide.