Emirates to help draw in tourists from Europe, MidEast with Clark-Dubai flights

Emirates Airlines is hoping to help lure tourists from Europe and the Middle East to the Philippines with its new non-stop daily Clark-Dubai flights.

The direct flights, starting Monday, are expected to assist the government in meeting its target of 10 million tourists by 2016.

“Clark will be now connected to the Middle East, including Europe,” Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp., said.

The direct flights to Dubai will be utilizing the airline’s Boeing 777-ER aircraft.

Emirates' first direct flight from Dubai will arrive Monday afternoon at the Clark international airport with about 428 passengers.

Luciano said the service will carry not just tourists but also overseas Filipino workers.

“The Clark route will serve as an exit point for the millions of Filipinos working in the Middle East, which has the most number of temporary overseas Filipinos at 2.7 million, with 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia and 680,000 in the United Arab Emirates,” Emirates Philippine country manager Gigie Baroa said.

Emirates, considered one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, foresees the number of passengers from the Philippines numbering at least one million by the end of this year.

From January to June 2013, Emirates flew 438,843 passengers (217,592 inbound passengers and 221,251 outbound) according to data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).

The airline has been offering flights to Manila since 1990. Currently it has three daily non-stop flights to Manila.

Emirates, which currently flies to 134 destinations in 77 countries, is targeting to have 250 aircraft in its fleet by 2020. --KG, GMA News