Emirates, one of the world's fastest growing international airlines, held a media briefing in Beijing today to mark the launch of its daily non-stop service to the city, which began on September 1. The briefing was attended by a senior delegation from Emirates led by Ghaith Al Ghaith, Executive Vice President Commercial Operations Worldwide.

Addressing the media briefing in Beijing, Ghaith Al Ghaith officially announced the launch of services to the assembled media and highlighted the increasingly important relationship between the UAE and China, as well as Emirates' confidence in the new service.

"Our services are guaranteed to build strong economic, political, social and cultural bridges between the two cities, Beijing and Dubai, the two countries, China and the UAE, and regionally spanning the Middle East," Ghaith Al Ghaith said.

"I'm confident that Beijing will prove to be a stellar success story on Emirates’ route network," he added.

The media briefing will be followed by an exclusive gala dinner hosted for more than 600 special guests representing the travel and cargo trade in Beijing.

Beijing is Emirates' third destination in China, after Shanghai and Hong Kong, and the 18th in the Asia Pacific region.

Emirates will serve Beijing with an Airbus A340-300 offering 267 seats in a three-class configuration, 12 seats in First Class, 42 in Business and 213 in Economy, and 13 tons of belly-hold cargo capacity. The airline's premium inflight service ranges from offering state-of-the-art entertainment and communication systems to ensuring that all passengers' ethnic food preferences are catered for. Flight attendants from more than 100 nationalities, including Mandarin-speaking cabin crew, will guarantee unsurpassed levels of inflight service for Chinese passengers.

Effective from September 1 to November 30, 2006, Emirates is offering a number of exciting promotional fares and packages for its Economy, Business and First Class passengers.

Economy Class passengers can fly from Beijing to Dubai for just 4500 yuan, to other destinations in the Middle East for 4800 yuan, to Europe for 5000 yuan and to Africa for 5500 yuan. What's more, the introductory fares to Middle East, Africa and Europe also include a free stopover in Dubai for a maximum of 30 days. All prices quoted are for round trip fares, and exclude taxes and other charges. To avail of these special offers, the tickets must be issued before 30th September.

Emirates is offering its First Class passengers traveling from Beijing three nights' and Business Class passengers two nights' complimentary stay in a deluxe room, single or double occupancy, at the spectacular Shangri-la Hotel in Dubai.

From Emirates' hub in Dubai, passengers and cargo from China can quickly and conveniently connect to the airline's 23 destinations in North America and Europe, 14 in Africa, and 13 in the Middle East.

In 2006, Emirates has launched services to Malawi, Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Thiruvananthapuram, Hamburg, Kolkata, and Nagoya, and in addition to Beijing, is also set to start services to Tunis and Bangalore.

(China.org.cn September 8, 2006)