Nairobi – 2nd August 2013 – Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, will serve Amsterdam with a second daily non-stop flight from 4th December 2013, through its Dubai hub, boosting trade ties between Kenya and The Netherlands.
The airline’s Boeing 777-200LR aircraft will add capacity of more than 3,700 seats a week in both directions and 17 tonnes of belly-hold capacity on every flight. The new daily service will complement Emirates’ popular Airbus A380 flights to Amsterdam, which commenced last August, less than two years after the launch of the route with a Boeing 777.
Emirates regional Vice President for East Africa Khalid Bel Jaflah said: “Our decision to add another daily service to Amsterdam is a direct result of a surge in customer demand. The enhanced capacity and schedule will offer our customers more choice when travelling between Amsterdam and Dubai and onwards to a multitude of destinations in the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Far East and Australasia.”
“Emirates’ value proposition to travellers is exceptionally appealing, with more access and connections through our perfectly located hub in Dubai, and unsurpassed standards of luxury and sophistication in air travel. Amsterdam is also a stronger for the Kenyan flowers and the additional capacity will greatly complement the freighter service Emirates already has on the route,” continued Mr Jaflah.
The major market for Kenyan flowers is Holland with 69% of all the Kenyan flower exports being the Dutch auctions. Other destinations include UK accounting for about 23%, Germany 7% and a range of other smaller destinations.
According to the statistics from the Dutch Embassy in Nairobi, the volume of trade (total imports and exports) between Kenya and the Netherlands was more than € 852 million up from € 700 million in 2010, making Netherlands one of Kenya’s major trading partners.
Important Dutch export products are services, chemicals, machinery, transport equipment and engines while major imports from Kenya are horticultural products, flowers, tobacco and raw materials.
The second service will feature 266 seats in a three-class configuration – eight seats in First Class, 42 in Business Class and 216 in Economy Class. Flight EK149 will leave Dubai at 1610hrs to reach Amsterdam at 2040hrs. The return flight EK150 will depart Amsterdam at 2210hrs, and will arrive in Dubai at 0740hrs the next day.
All classes of the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft will be equipped with Emirates’ award-winning ice entertainment system with up to 1,500 channels of on-demand entertainment, including movies, television programmes, games, audio books and music from across the world.
Adding to the airline’s extensive product offering, customers travelling in all classes enjoy generous baggage allowances – 30 kilos in Economy Class, 40 in Business Class and 50 in First Class.
Emirates operates double daily flights (14 weekly flights) between Nairobi and Dubai and onward to more than 130 destinations.
EK 719 departs Dubai International Airport every day at 1045hrs and arrives at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 1445hrs. The return flight, EK720, leaves JKIA at 1640hrs and lands in Dubai at 1040hrs. Second flight EK 721 departs Dubai International Airport every day at 1505hrs and arrives at JKIA at 1905hrs. The return flight, EK722, leaves JKIA at 2250hrs and lands in Dubai at 0450hrs.
About Emirates:
Emirates has a fleet of 201 aircraft flying to 134 destinations in 76 countries and has a further 192 aircraft on order worth over US$71 billion.
Earlier this year, Emirates launched services to Warsaw, Algiers and Haneda. The airline has announced plans to launch services to Stockholm on 4th September. On 1st October, Emirates will commence flights to Clark in the Philippines as well as link the transatlantic route between Milan and New York. In Africa, Emirates will launch a linked service to Conakry in Guinea from 27th October. Expanding into Eastern Europe, Emirates will launch services to Kiev, Ukraine on 16th January 2014.
