Initially, the airline will increase its services from the current daily to 12 flights every week, and from July 1 the busy Dubai-Beijing route will feature a double-daily non-stop service.

Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline said, "China is the new economic powerhouse and the world is beating a path to its capital Beijing. Since the launch of our Dubai-Beijing route last September, our seat load factors have consistently been above 80 per cent, with strong demand from countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, as well as USA. We are in the business of creating convenient global air networks for our customers – both passengers and cargo – and the upcoming Olympic Games in 2008 will increase the tempo of demand for our services to Beijing."

As a further sign of the blossoming bilateral relations between the two countries, earlier this month, the UAE and the China National Tourism Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Chinese citizens' outbound travel to the UAE. This is the first step for the UAE receiving full ADS — Approved Destination Status — from the Chinese authorities. Once in full effect, it will significantly enhance the growth of Dubai's tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) markets. Last year, the bilateral trade volume between China and the UAE rose to US$14.2 billion, which is an increase of nearly 32%.

Emirates began services to mainland China in 2004 with services to Shanghai, which it serves with daily non-stop Boeing 777-300ER flights offering nearly 2550 seats and 160 tonnes of cargo weekly. The airline also serves Hong Kong with 17 weekly passenger flights and 10 Boeing 747-400F freighter services, offering a total of 1200 tonnes of capacity.

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