Emirates is bringing back a second daily flight between Dubai and Perth, giving travellers more connection options to destinations including the UK, US and Continental Europe.
The service will resume from December 1, operating on a 777-300ER alongside Emirates’ existing A380 once-daily service, and bring more than 129,000 new inbound seats to WA per year.
Acting Tourism Minister John Carey said it was part of the State Government’s push to recapture or secure flights since borders reopened, supported through the $75 million Aviation Recovery Fund in partnership with Perth Airport.
“Today’s announcement represents another important step forward in rebuilding WA’s aviation capacity and further strengthens Perth’s global reputation as the western gateway to Australia,” Mr Carey said.
“Securing additional direct aviation services is absolutely vital to driving more travellers to our State, injecting visitor spend into our economy, and creating jobs in the tourism and hospitality industries.”
Emirates said the new flight EK424 will depart from Dubai at 9.15am WST and arrive in Perth just after midnight the following day.
The return flight leaves at 6am WST and lands in the United Arab Emirates city at 1.10pm WST, enabling “seamless afternoon connections … to a wealth of destinations across Europe”, divisional vice president for Australasia Barry Brown said.
Mr Carey is filling in for Rita Saffioti while she’s in India on a trade mission, saying before she jetted off on Monday that securing a non-stop service with WA was high on her agenda.
“This is a huge aviation priority for our Government,” the Deputy Premier said.
Since borders reopened, non-stop flights between Perth and 19 global cities have started, been secured or resumed.
A Paris service will launch in July.
Still on the Cook Government’s wish list is a direct link to Chengdu, the fourth most populous city in China and the capital of Sichuan province.
Efforts to clinch a service began towards the end of Mark McGowan’s term as premier, and his successor Roger Cook “gave it a crack” at a meeting with Sichuan Airlines in November.
His Government also hopes to make permanent direct flights between Shanghai and Perth, which began on January 20 and run until February 18 under a Chinese New Year holiday period trial.
