DUBAI - Emirates, today announced it will start a daily Airbus A380 service from Dubai to Mauritius from 16 December 2013.

The aircraft will operate flight EK 701 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and EK 3701 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, departing from Dubai International Airport at 03.10 hours and arriving in Mauritius at 09.40.

The return flight EK 702 and EK 3702 will depart Mauritius’ Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport at 18.20 hours and arrives in Dubai at 01.10 the next day.

The new flight will replace one of the existing three class Boeing 777-300 services the airline currently operates to Mauritius. Emirates will continue to serve the country on a twice daily basis with an additional 153 seats on the route each day.

Thierry Antinori – Emirates’ Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Having brought our flagship A380 aircraft to this beautiful island for the first time in March, we could see how much appeal the aircraft had for our customers on the route.

"A first amongst the Indian Ocean Islands, it is a matter of great pride to be able to offer this service on a daily basis from December this year.

“The strategic decision to add the extra capacity is a testament to Emirates’ on-going commitment to supporting the tourism sector of Mauritius. There has been growing demand to support leisure traffic to the region, and the extra capacity will serve multiple destinations across our network in Europe, Middle East and Asia, with seamless connectivity through our Dubai hub."

Michael Sik Yuen, Minister of Tourism and Leisure of Mauritius, added: “The Emirates A380 flight to Mauritius will enhance the visibility and attractiveness of the destination to a wider audience.

"With the Emirates A380 service now scheduled on the Dubai–Mauritius route, the change in aircraft type to A380 will not only increase the seat capacity, but will also help Mauritius as a destination, to tap into new and emerging markets which are currently being serviced by Emirates, to meet the tourism growth challenge in 2014."

Emirates has been operating to Mauritius since 2002 with three flights per week and in December 2012 commenced a double daily service due to continued growing demand.

The introduction of the A380 service will allow for greater connectivity to key markets across Emirates’ 33 destinations in Europe, 17 in the Middle East, 16 in the Indian sub-continent and 15 in Far East Asia.

The airline operates the flights on a code-share basis with Air Mauritius. The airline currently employs 34 people at the local station.  In total, Emirates employs 225 Mauritians, including 107 Cabin Crew and one Boeing 777 Pilot.

Emirates has 35 Airbus A380 aircraft in its fleet, Mauritius will be the 23rd destination the airline operates the aircraft to from its’ hub in Dubai that includes: Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Manchester, Melbourne, Moscow, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and Toronto.

Planned operations of the aircraft to Zurich and Los Angeles have recently announced.

The Wi-Fi equipped Emirates’ A380s carry the world-renowned ice entertainment system, offering passengers nearly 1,500 channels of films, 

The Emirates Airbus A380 aircraft carried almost 17 million passengers since it was introduced five years ago. The Dubai based airline has a purpose built Airbus A380 aircraft concourse in Dubai, with an envisage capacity growth of 90 million passengers by 2018.