Five new aircraft join Emirates fleet in December

Maintaining its edge as one of the world's fastest growing airlines, one A380 and one Boeing 777 have joined the network in the first weekend of December and the remaining three will join throughout the month.

The new additions to the fleet will mark the arrival of Emirates 118th and 119th Boeing aircraft and its 28th to 30th A380s. As the largest operator of both the A380 and Boeing 777 and in the world, Emirates new additions will support its growing route network. The list of cities Emirates' serves expands with two new destinations in December - Lyon, France and Phuket, Thailand. In addition, service to Warsaw, Poland, and Algiers, Algeria, begin in the first quarter of 2013.

"Adding a single new aircraft into the fleet, for any airline, requires careful planning and good logistical support," said Adel Al Redha, Emirates Executive Vice-President of Engineering and Operations. "However, adding five new aircraft over the course of one month is a true achievement."

An unrivalled flying experience, the Emirates A380 remains extremely popular among passengers; gaining accolades for its unique features such as the on-board lounge, shower spas and - an Emirates standard across the entire fleet - award winning inflight entertainment in every seat, in every class with more than 1,400 channels.

Emirates has the world's largest fleet of A380s which currently serve Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Manchester, Melbourne, Moscow, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. In early 2013, Emirates will expand operations in Dubai at the world's first fully A30-comtabilbe facility at Dubai International Airport.

Amongst its 191 aircraft in operation, and with an outstanding aircraft order for an additional 209 aircraft including 70 more Boeing 777s, Emirates first B777 was introduced in 1996.

As the world's largest twin-jet aircraft, the Boeing 777 remains a passenger favourite. All new Emirates 777 aircraft come equipped with Emirates' award-winning inflight entertainment on some of the industry's widest personal TV screens: 27-inch in First Class, 20-inch in Business Class and 12.1 inch in Economy Class. Furthermore, the screens are enhanced by Emirates' new Graphical User Interface (GUI) which allows passengers to move around the entertainment system by "swiping" or "scrolling," just like a consumer tablet device; discovering the vast library of over 1,400 channels of media and entertainment programming.

Find out more about Emirates airline and the features of the Emirates A380 and Boeing 777 at www.emirates.com.

Emirates flies on a daily schedule from Malta to Dubai via Larnaca in Cyprus.