Emirates has announced plans to launch a new service to Al Madinah al Munawarrah throughout summer, catering for increased demand during this peak travel period.

The twice weekly flights will be in place from July 2 to September 24 and will be operated by an Airbus A330-200. The service will be available in a three-class configuration including; 12 First Class seats, 42 Business Class seats and 183 Economy Class seats, the Dubai carrier said in a statement.

The Emirates flight will depart Dubai each Friday and Sunday at 1.15am and will arrive in Al Medinah al Munawarrah at 3am. On the return journey the flight will depart Al Medinah al Munawarrah at 4.35am and land in Dubai at 8.15am.

Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran said: 'Emirates is delighted to be able to offer flights to Al Medinah al Munawarrah throughout the busy summer months. This new, limited time, service means that Emirates will have four gateways into Saudi Arabia across the peak summer holiday, ensuring we are able to sufficiently service the thousands of people travelling to and from the country.'

“We are confident that this service will benefit both those travelling overseas from Madinah on their summer holiday, and also those visiting as part of their pilgrimage,” he added.

The new, temporary, service from Al Madinah Al Munawarrah to Dubai will provide travellers with excellent connections to popular destinations in Australia, the Far East and parts of Europe.

The airline has remained committed to the Kingdom since operations first began in 1989, with flights to Jeddah, the statement added.

Since January 2009 Emirates has increased services to the country from 17 flights to 21 flights weekly. In February this year Emirates also launched the world acclaimed Airbus A380 aircraft onto the Jeddah route – the first commercial A380 into the country.
 
Emirates currently operates 21 weekly flights to Saudi Arabia from three gateways including; Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.-TradeArabia News Service