EMIRATES CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS TO DAR ES SALAAM

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - 28 OCTOBER 2017 - Emirates, the world's best airline according to TripAdvisor 2017, today celebrates 20 years of operations in Tanzania, during which time it carried nearly 2.3 million customers between Dar es Salaam and Dubai.

Emirates started flights between the two cities on 28 October 1997 with a twice weekly service linked with Kenya's capital Nairobi, using an Airbus A310. Following consistent growth in demand for seats, the route became a non-stop and daily service in December 2016. Today, Emirates operates a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the route with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seat in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class.

Dar es Salaam has since become one of Emirates' most popular destinations in east Africa. The city itself is rich in culture and local history, and offers visitors easy access to the country's vast natural beauty, from Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, to its world famous wildlife reserves and tropical off shore islands. Besides a growing and vibrant tourism industry, Tanzania also offers business and trade opportunities.

 "Twenty years of continuous service between Dar es Salaam and Dubai is a significant milestone and measure of our success in Tanzania. It also highlights the importance of the country as major tourism and business destination that's able to attract visitors from major markets across our worldwide network. As Emirates, we will continue to connect Tanzania and the world and play our part in supporting the country in further growing its tourism industry and economy", said Orhan Abbas, Emirates' Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations, Africa.

"I also want to thank the Government of Tanzania, all our local stakeholders, business partners and staff led by our Country Manager, Rashed Alfajeer, for their supporting and contribution to our success to date," he added.

In the 2016-2017 financial year, Emirates carried over 94,000 customers on the route, with most visitors to the country coming from the United Kingdom, United States, UAE, India, China, Germany and Australia, while Tanzanians' most popular places to visit include all of these as well as Saudi Arabia.

All customers travelling on Emirates' Boeing 777 between Dar es Salaam and Dubai enjoy the famous hospitality of the airline's multinational cabin crew, including Tanzanian nationals, gourmet cuisine and award winning inflight entertainment, with over 2,500 channels of on-demand audio and visual entertainment, from the latest movies, music, games and audiobooks, as well as generous baggage allowances.

Emirates flight EK726 departs Dar es Salaam daily at 1645hrs and arrives in Dubai at 2320hrs, while the return flight EK725 departs Dubai at 1030hrs and arrives in Dar es Salaam at 1500hrs.

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