Emirates celebrates twenty years of service in Malta

Emirates marks twenty years of service to Malta and the Maltese community. Since its first flight to Malta from Dubai on 30th March 1998, Emirates has carried nearly 900,000 passengers between Dubai and Malta. During this time is has enabled trade and tourism to the region and provided a seamless daily link to the Far East and Australasia for Maltese travelers.

Over the past five years alone, Emirates has carried close to 7,000 tonnes of cargo to and from Malta, with main imports being pharmaceuticals and fresh fish, while main exports include electrical components and pharmaceuticals.

Emirates began its service to Malta via Athens with two weekly flights on an Airbus A300.  In October 2005, the airline added two more flights, making the service four times weekly to Malta through Larnaca, Cyprus. Underlining its commitment to Malta, Emirates in 2008 again increased flights to make it a daily service, as well as introduced a Boeing 777-300ER. Currently, the Emirates operation to Malta carries over 2500 passengers to and from the region each week.

Whilst thanking passengers and service providers for their support over the years, Emirates Country Manager in Malta, Paul Fleri Soler, said, “We are proud to have a created a daily connection for  Maltese travelers to Dubai, the Far East and beyond, which continues to increase in popularity. During the past twenty years, the airline has continued to reaffirm its commitment to Malta by employing more Maltese nationals, moving the airline’s area office to larger premises at MIA, introducing a Maltese menu to the airline’s catering offering and steadily increasing its passenger and cargo capacity to the region to meet  growing demand.

“The Malta route is primarily an inbound one and the main inbound markets are Japan, Australia, the UAE, China and the Philippines while strong outbound markets are Dubai, Australia and leisure destinations in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean,” he added.

With Emirates, Maltese travellers can seamlessly connect via one stop at the airline’s modern and convenient Dubai hub, to more than 150 destinations worldwide.  The daily Malta-Larnaca-Dubai flight is operated by an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three class cabin configuration, with eight Private Suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class.

Customers travelling on Emirates can look forward to the highest levels of care and comfort, from the warm hospitality of Emirates’ multinational cabin crew, including over 60  Maltese, to being entertained by ice, which offers up to 3,500 channels of on-demand audio and visual entertainment from the latest movies, music and games.

Customers also enjoy chef prepared meals and complimentary beverages, while families are also well catered for with dedicated products and services for children.