Although the gap with its rival Qatar Airways is narrowing, Dubai's national carrier Emirates Airlines remains the giant of the Gulf region, serving more than a hundred non-stop destinations this winter. The programme for winter 2010/2011 has seen the airline boost capacity to Madrid, Prague, Tripoli and the Seychelles. Other markets benefiting from strong development include Saudi Arabia, with growth of 75% on the Dubai-Saudi Arabia route, the equivalent of 3,500 additional seats! This improvement includes daily service to Medina as well as 12 weekly flights to Riyadh and Jeddah.
Emirates has partially unveiled its plans for 2011. Services to Basra (Iraq) in February and Geneva in June have already been announced. Basra will be served by four weekly frequencies, while the long-coveted city of Calvin will benefit from a daily flight. The flight will be operated by Boeing 777-200 or 300LR aircraft and will offer the comfort of business class sleeper seats and the famous private suites in first class. Geneva will thus become the airline's 26th European stopover.
