Dubai, Emirates Airlines have announced it will launch on 1st November 2012 four weekly flights to Adelaide, increasing to a daily service from 1st February 2013. Adelaide will be the airline’s fifth destination in Australia which is currently served with 70 flights per week.

The airline’s current twice daily service to Perth will increase to 19 weekly flights from 1st December, and to be a three daily operation from 1st March next year.

The French city of Lyon will be added to the Emirates’ network from 5th December, the carrier’s third point in France after Paris and Nice. Emirates will operate five weekly flights to this vibrant economic and tourism centre of south eastern France.

From 6th February 2013, Emirates will begin flights into Poland, where recently the World bank predicted the highest economic growth in the Central and Eastern European region. The airline will operate a daily service to the capital, Warsaw.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline & Group said, “Emirates is currently in a concentrated and sustained period of global expansion.

“The addition of Adelaide to our network and the boost to our Perth operations demonstrates our commitment to investment and growth in our Australian operations and highlights the economic strength and global demand for the two cities as business, leisure and investment destinations. We will also grow capacity to Melbourne with the introduction of daily A380 services in October, in addition to our existing double decker flight into Sydney.

“Our increased operations into France, linking with Lyon, comes on the heels of our announcing a second A380 service into Paris from 1st January – all of which a response to acute demand for our services to and from this market. Poland continues our exciting push into this region of Europe.”

The airline currently has a fleet of 176 aircraft, including the world’s largest Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 fleet, to 124 destinations – supported globally by more than 60,000 staff.

Expansion – timings and aircraft:

Adelaide (4 weekly flights beginning 1st November 2012)

EK 440 departs Dubai on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday at 0155hrs and arrives in Adelaide at 2045hrs – using a Boeing 777-300ER in a three class configuration.

Perth (5 extra flights from 1st December 2012)

EK 422 leaves Dubai at 2145hrs on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and lands in Perth at 1225hrs the next day – operated with a Boeing 777-300ER in a three class arrangement.

Lyon (5 weekly flights from 5th December 2012)

EK 81 departs Dubai on a Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 1435hrs and arrives in Lyon at 1900hrs – using an Airbus A340-500 in three cabin classes.

Warsaw (daily flights from 6th February 2013)

EK 179 takes off daily from Dubai at 0730hrs and lands in Warsaw at 1045hrs – served by an Airbus A330-200 in a three-class configuration.