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Dubai, rapidly becoming a hub to rival Singapore for Emirates

Emirates to Fly Dubai Phuket Direct

Thursday, October 4, 2012
PHUKET: Emirates Airlines will fly daily from Phuket to Dubai from December 11 in a move that should attract plenty of new visitors to the island.

While budget airlines are setting the pace around Asia, Emirates is already world's largest international carrier and continues to enlarge its global network.

At the same time as Phuket-China-Phuket flights are being added as fast as possible to the mass market hauls, the Emirates daily delivery opens up the Middle East and Europe direct.

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates capital of Dubai is rapidly rising as one of the world's most important air hubs, with the highly-regarded national airline expanding fast. Emirates now flies to 120 cities across six continents.

From Dubai, passengers going to and from Phuket will be able to choose a network that is difficult for other airlines to match.

That's one of the reasons why Qantas recently pulled out of Europe and instead chose to form an alliance with Emirates.

Qantas plans to flying passengers to Europe via Dubai, instead of through Singapore, from March 31. Switching its hub to Dubai for flights to Europe was a key part of the alliance deal with Emirates.

With Singapore keen to retain its position as the alternative international hub for Europe-Australia travel, tourists and businesspeople on Phuet can expect to benefit as competition hots up.

The Phuket-Dubai-Phuket time slots from December 11 are to be:

EK 379 Departing Phuket 00.35 Arriving Dubai 04.35

EK 378 Departing Dubai 12.45 Arriving Phuket 21.55

Existing return fares are 31,565 baht economy, 64,680 baht business, and 103,680 first class.

The advent of Emirates on a direct Phuket-Dubai-Phuket service indicates that the world's leading airline thinks the tourism industry here has a big future.

The airline's onlline sit says: ''Every Emirates flight to Phuket offers award-winning service, gourmet cuisine and the latest inflight entertainment and information. With our generous baggage allowance and spacious cabins across all classes, you will enjoy your flight to Phuket as much as the destination itself.''

''Travel to Phuket
Travellers flying to Phuket arrive at the Phuket International Airport, about 32km from downtown Phuket, or 45 minutes by car. Travel between the airport and the city is easy with many options available including taxis, limousine services, minibuses, car hire and public transport. For those travelling to Phuket the Government run Airport Bus is one of the most reasonable ways of getting to the city, while limousines, although costlier, are more comfortable.''

Emirates has yet to establish a Phuket office. The telephone number for Emirates bookings is 02 6641040.

Passenger numbers arriving and departing Phuket are on schedule to hit a record 9.3 million at Phuket International Airport this year.

Comments

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Fantastic news for the tourism industry in Phuket - Now just keep the streets crime free and Phuket has a great future...

Posted by Anonymous on October 4, 2012 19:15

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Dubai has no oil!

Posted by Clausen on October 4, 2012 20:58

Editor Comment:

Our report says ''oil-rich,'' and as Wikipedia notes ''Dubai's economy was built on the oil industry.''

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I wonder what the source for the claim of Emirates being the worlds largest international airline is?

There are 7 recognized categories to measure the size of an airline and Emirates tops none of them.

As a matter of fact it appears in only one of them, Scheduled passenger-kilometer flown, occupying 4th position behind Delta, United and American Airlines (2011).

It is a big and top notch airline but not the largest one, not even by a longshot.

Posted by Andrew on October 4, 2012 23:19

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@Andrew.
It is generally recognized that the largest three airlines are all American, those being Delta, United and American. Emirates would top the list in the number of international destinations and passenger kilometers flown.

Posted by Pete on October 5, 2012 07:06

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@ Pete

Well, no.

As already mentioned, Emirates is 4th in the list of passenger kilometers flown and has 122 international destinations.

For comparison United has 132, Delta 136. Lufthansa Group has 203.

Not that all this matters much but the claim in the article is simply untrue.

Emirates is not the largest international airline by any means of measure and that's why I was curious as to where that claim originates. I suspect Emirates promotional material but PW could clarify that.

Posted by Andrew on October 5, 2012 10:46

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@Andrew.
I had to look it up........"and largest in the world in terms of scheduled international passenger-kilometres flown".
Wikepedia, Emirates.

Posted by Pete on October 5, 2012 12:00

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"EK 379 Departing Phuket 00.35 Arriving Dubai 04.35
EK 378 Departing Dubai 12.45 Arriving Phuket 21.55"
Ed i think these times are wrong.Can it be 4 hours to Dubai and 9 hours back, even with time difference?
I could fly From SA- Dubai-Phuket.

Posted by gregg P Cornell on October 7, 2012 13:59

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excellent news. Qantas/Emirates partnership April 2013 also.

Posted by david on October 8, 2012 06:31

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This is great news, especially that EK also flies direct DXB to DUB. We now have a choice of 2 sand airlines to get from Phuket to Dublin with only 1 stop. In days gone by it was HKT to BKK to LHR to DUB.

Posted by geoff on October 10, 2012 13:13

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@ gregg P Cornell. I will be doing the ride from Cape Town to Dubai, then Dubai to Phuket late December. I am so glad it cuts out the KL leg of the trip. Ja boet, we can not get back here faster. Cheears.

Posted by Dun on October 14, 2012 12:01


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