(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-24 12:00

ABU DHABI - The Dubai-based Emirates Airline will launch an addition daily flight linking Dubai and China's Shanghai from February 1, 2008, Emirates News Agency reported on Thursday.

"Emirates' current daily service to Shanghai has been exceptionally successful ... The route is served by state-of-the-art aircraft, and we offer culturally-sensitive services -- from cabin crew who speak the language to Chinese food," the airline's executive vice president Ghaith Al Ghaith was quoted as saying.

"We are confident that the second service to Shanghai will taste the same phenomenal success," Al Ghaith added.

The airline's second daily flight to Shanghai will be served by the wide-bodied Airbus A340-300s with 267 seats in a three-class configuration, offering 13 tons of cargo capacity. On Tuesdays, the service will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 with 237 seats.

The airline launched passenger services to Shanghai in April 2004. The demand on the route began on a strong note and continued to grow steadily thereafter, with seat load factors consistently above 90 percent.

Emirates SkyCargo also operates six cargo flights to Shanghai a week with Boeing 747-400F freighters, which have a capacity of 120 tons.

The airline also serves Beijing with a double daily service, and Hong Kong with 17 weekly passenger flights and 13 weekly freighter services.