The airline’s network expands to 18 points across the Americas.
Emirates announced on Monday it will launch a new daily service from Dubai to Montréal, starting July 5. Montréal becomes Emirates’ second gateway in Canada, complementing its passenger services to Toronto, which have been operating to Ontario’s capital city since 2007.
The launch of services to Montréal comes as the UAE and Canada aim to deepen economic cooperation between the two nations and stimulate benefits to the aviation and tourism sectors, in addition to enhancing trade flows and commercial links.
The daily flights to the new destination will help cater to the huge demand for direct flights between Dubai and Canada, particularly to its two largest metropolitan hubs, and provide more choice for travellers when flying to Canada.
The UAE is Canada’s largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2022, bilateral trade between Canada and the UAE exceeded C$2.6 billion (Dh7.05 billion), growing 53 per cent over the last five years. According to Statistics Canada, it is estimated the UAE’s foreign direct investments stock in Canada was valued at C$1.3 billion in 2021.
Canada features in Dubai’s top 20 source markets for inbound tourism with 158,000 Canadian visitors in 2022, more than double the number in 2021, according to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism).
The daily flights between Dubai and Montréal will operate as EK243/244 with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three-class configuration, with eight first class suites, 42 lie-flat seats in business class and 304 seats in economy class.
“Emirates is excited to launch our second gateway into Canada as we expand our reach in the country with direct services from our hub in Dubai. As a major metropolitan centre and as Canada’s second largest city, we are pleased to add Montréal to our growing global network of over 130 destinations and strengthening our coverage in the Americas to reach 18 points served by our services from Dubai,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer.
“We have been serving customers with passenger and cargo services to Toronto for over 15 years and when we begin services to Montréal in July, customers will have more choice when planning their travel whether for business, leisure, education or for visiting family and friends. We would like to thank the UAE and Canadian authorities for the enhanced agreements which have made this new destination possible. With our expanded reach into the country, we look forward to facilitating new trade lanes, which will bring a host of benefits to Canadian businesses and exporters in addition to promoting tourism into more cities and generating more jobs across all sectors, including those directly serving the aviation industry,” continued Kazim.
Emirates network and Air Canada partnership
Customers of Emirates and Air Canada have access to an expansive network of destinations thanks to the codeshare partnership between the two airlines. In addition to over 130 destinations that Emirates flies to, its customers currently have access to 19 Canadian destinations beyond Toronto through the partnership, while Air Canada customers are able to fly on Emirates to Dubai and access 17 cities in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Far East. Additionally, Emirates passengers are able to choose from over 140 routes operated by Air Canada on an interline basis, including 27 points in Canada and 94 routes between Canada and the US and South America.
Emirates has been operating to Toronto since 2007 and its flagship A380 service on the Dubai-Toronto route since 2009. From April 20, Emirates has been serving Toronto with a daily A380 service. With the addition of Montréal, the airline will provide a choice of two points for travellers planning trips to and from Canada. This will also grow Emirates’ network across the Americas to two points in Canada, 12 US cities, and four destinations across Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
Emirates provides also cargo services to Canada with a capacity to carry 20 tonnes in the bellyhold of its Boeing 777 passenger aircraft and up to 15 tonnes aboard its A380 aircraft.