Emirates, the leading international airline of the UAE, is launching a daily service to Lisbon from July 9, making the Portuguese capital its 31st European destination.

The Portugal service comes just six days after launching flights to Barcelona.

Emirates will serve Lisbon with a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, offering First Class, Business Class and Economy Class cabins.

Flight EK 191 will leave Dubai at 0915hrs each day and arrive in Lisbon at 1445hrs. The return flight, EK 192 departs Lisbon at 1755hrs and gets into Dubai at 0435hrs the next day.

“Lisbon has been on our European wish-list for some time. Our daily flight will link this far western corner of Europe with our strong route network, via Dubai, into Africa, across Asia and beyond,” said Tim Clark, president, Emirates Airline.

“We will be the only carrier based in the Middle East operating into Portugal, bringing our refreshing approach to customer service, our dynamic and inspiring approach to business, along with superb value for money,” he added.

“We are delighted to welcome Emirates to Lisbon and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with our newest airline client,” said Lisbon Airport Director João Nunes.

“Emirates have established a high level of excellence and admiration within the aviation community and we are confident that passengers will be eager to take advantage of the new route for travel to the Middle East and beyond. Connectivity is essential for business and for tourism and this new flight and the onward connections that it will provide will be very beneficial for the Portuguese economy,” Nunes added.

Portugal has a population of around 10 million, of which nearly 2 million live in Lisbon and its suburbs.

Lisbon was recently ranked the 7th best city in Europe for shopping by the ‘Globe Shopper City Index’ of The Economist Intelligence Unit.  The city also ranks 8th in the world for international conferences and events, according to the International Conferences and Congress Association (ICCA).

The new service follows a trend of growing links between Portugal and the UAE. Portugal opened its embassy in the UAE in 2010 and the UAE reciprocated in Lisbon last year. – TradeArabia News Service