OREANDA-NEWS. Emirates, a global connector of people, places and economies, has announced a third daily service to MalЁ¦, the capital of the Maldives.

Commencing Monday, 1st December, Emirates flight EK656 will depart Dubai International Airport at 0210hrs, and arrive in MalЁ¦ at 0715hrs, adding seven more inbound flights a week to the Maldives, increasing passenger and cargo capacity on the route by a third. The outbound flight EK657 will depart MalЁ¦ International Airport, HulhulЁ¦ at 0845hrs and arrive in Dubai at 1155hrs, all times local.

Ў°The Maldives has proven to be a strong market for leisure and family travel. With a wide range of luxury hotel chains, romantic beaches and adventurous water sports activities; it certainly has something for everyone. Emirates' additional daily flight to MalЁ¦ will give our customers greater flexibility in their travel plans allowing them to visit this exciting destination and connect seamlessly to other flights on Emirates' extensive global network,Ў± said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations- West Asia and Indian Ocean. Ў°The increased cargo capacity on the route will also help facilitate business between the Maldives and its key trading markets.Ў±

Both flights offer excellent connecting times to flights from and to key destinations in the UK and Europe. For passengers visiting MalЁ¦ for example, the connecting time in Dubai for inbound Emirates flights from London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Paris, Milan, Moscow, Frankfurt and Zurich is under three hours. Similarly, the new outbound flight offers a connecting time of three hours or less with Emirates flights to London, Birmingham, Manchester, Frankfurt and Madrid.

The seven new flights a week will be operated with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in two class configuration, adding 294 Business Class and 2,702 Economy Class seats each way per week on the route, as well as 23 tonnes of additional capacity for cargo per flight.

Both cabins are equipped with Emirates' award-winning ice entertainment system with up to 1,800 channels on-demand entertainment to choose from, including movies, television programmes, games, audio books and music from across the world.

As with all Emirates flights, passengers on the new Dubai- MalЁ¦ services will enjoy the extra generous Emirates baggage allowance of 30kg in Economy Class and 40 kg in Business Class. The additional services also provide more opportunities for members of Skywards, the award-winning frequent flyer programme of Emirates Airline, to earn Skywards Miles on their travel.

Emirates, which launched services to MalЁ¦ on 27th May 1987, currently operates two daily flights to Dubai and a daily flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The award-winning international carrier now flies to 147 destinations in 84 countries and territories, including cargo-only services.