Dubai's premiere carrier Emirates has announced an additional daily flight to Lisbon, Portugal, to meet increasing demand.
The airline first launched flights from Dubai to Lisbon back in 2012 and has seen a steady increase in customer demand, averaging a 15 percent capacity growth per year.
“The additional service will provide customers in Africa, the Far East and Australasia, the Middle East and West Asia with even easier access to Lisbon, supporting the burgeoning business and leisure traffic between these markets and Portugal,” Hubert Frach, Emirates’ divisional senior vice president Commercial Operations West, said, according to Trade Arabia.
Portugal has seen an increase in tourism in recent years from eastern nations, especially China, Japan and Korea. As Dubai is a connecting hub between Europe and these East Asian nations, Emirates is positioning itself to be the carrier of choice for these tourists.
"We continue to work closely with Visit Portugal to ensure a coordinated and sustained approach to attracting inbound tourism numbers to Portugal. Given our broad global network and convenient one-stop connection through Dubai we are confident that this second daily flight will help boost visitor numbers to Portugal even further," Frach said.
Interestingly, Emirates also recently became the shirt sponsor for Lisbon's Benfica Football team.
This relatively minor expansion comes after accusations from American and European carriers that Emirates, Etihad Airlines, and Qatar Airways receive unfair subsidies from their governments, granting them an unfair advantage in the international market. The Gulf carriers have carried on with planned expansions despite these complaints.