News Desk
DUBAI: Emirates announced on 19 February it will launch a four times weekly service between Portugal’s second largest city, Porto, and Dubai, from 2 July 2019.
Porto will become Emirates’ second destination in Portugal after its capital, Lisbon, which the airline currently serves with two flights a day. The flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three class cabin configuration, offering eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class.
Emirates’ new service will provide travellers in northern Portugal, a major urban area, as well as those in the north-west of Spain in cities such as Vigo and Santiago de Compostela, due to its close proximity to Porto, with a direct option to travel to Dubai, and onward to destinations across the airline’s global network, particularly in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
The flight between Dubai and Porto will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and depart Dubai as EK197 at 0915hrs and arrive in Porto at 1430hrs. The return flight, EK198, will depart Porto at 1735hrs and land in Dubai at 0415hrs the next morning. The schedule enables travellers to easily and conveniently connect to Emirates’ flights from Dubai International Airport to popular destinations, such as Luanda, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney, amongst others.
Situated along the coast and on the Douro River, Porto is world famous for its Port wine production and historical city centre, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides offering a rich cultural heritage and variety of tourist attractions, Porto is also an important trade and industrial city, attracting business travellers.
“Porto is currently enjoying increased levels of tourism, which is also reflective of the growth in the number of visitors to Portugal as a whole. The introduction of this new flight, along with our twice daily Lisbon service, will help meet this growing demand from both leisure and business travellers, as well as provide them with more choice, flexibility and connectivity when travelling to and from Portugal,” said Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline.
Customers across all cabin classes can look forward to award winning levels of comfort and care when travelling with Emirates, from the warm hospitality of its multinational cabin crew, including Portuguese nationals, to having access to over 4000 channels of on demand audio and visual entertainment from the latest movies, music and games on its ice system, as well as regionally inspired meals and complimentary beverages. Families are also well catered for with dedicated products and services for children.
The new service will also enable Emirates SkyCargo to offer up to 18 tonnes of cargo capacity on the flight, giving local businesses the opportunity to increase their exports such as garments, shoes, automotive parts and cork.
