Emirates’ first flight to US via Greece lands in Newark

An Emirates’ inaugural US flight via Greece has touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport, marking the start of daily, year-round passenger services between Dubai, Athens and New Jersey, providing easy access to The Big Apple. With the arrival of the airline’s Boeing 777, Newark becomes Emirates’ 12th US gateway, and is the second serving the greater Tri-State Area consisting of New York State, New Jersey and Connecticut. The service adds to Emirates’ existing four daily flights from Dubai and John F Kennedy International Airport. Passengers embarking from Newark and Dubai will have the option to disembark in Athens or continue to their final destinations. “This new route will connect America’s largest metropolitan area and Dubai through one of Europe’s great capitals,” said Hubert Frach, the Emirates divisional senior vice president for commercial operations West. Diane Papaianni, the general manager at the Newark hub, said: “Our airport has a vast network of destinations, and we are delighted to have Emirates join our airline family and offer more travel options to our customers.” Describing the new service as “a spectacular development for the Athens’ market”, Yiannis Paraschis, the chief executive of Athens International Airport, said Athens’ strong traffic volumes to and from the US, supported by the Greek-American community of about 1.3 million people, showed the potential of the carrier’s latest endeavour. Greece has experienced a double-digit increase in arrivals from the United States in the past two years, according to the consul general of Greece in New York, Konstantinos Koutras . “The establishment of the new direct flight Dubai-Athens-New York will significantly empower Greece’s appeal among the U.S. travel audience.” Emirates will serve the route with a wide-body Boeing 777-300ER powered by General Electric GE90 engines, offering eight seats in First Class, 42 seats in Business and 304 seats in Economy, as well as 19 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity. Emirates daily flight EK209 will depart Dubai at 10:50am local time, arriving in Athens at 2:25pm before departing again at 4:40pm and arriving into Newark at 10pm on the same day. Emirates daily flight EK210 will depart Newark at 11:45pm, arriving in Athens the next day at 3:05pm. It will depart from Athens at 5:10pm arriving in Dubai 11:50pm. Passengers wishing to travel beyond Athens can connect to or from destinations within Greece, such as Corfu, Mykonos or Santorini, with Aegean and OlympicAir. Internationally, passengers can also connect to or from Cairo, Tirana, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia. Travellers beyond New Jersey and the Tri-State Area can take advantage of Emirates’ partnerships with JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, allowing for connections to and from more than 100 destinations across the US, Caribbean and Mexico. chnelson@thenational.ae __________________________________ More Emirates airline coverage EPA / Emirates Airline ■ Emirates passengers given option to pay for access to premium lounges ■ Video: From Dubai to London: watch the journey of a bag handled by dnata ■ In pictures: Sky is the limit in luxury travel with Emirates ■ Emirates expects to roll out premium economy within 18 months ■ In pictures: Top 10 first class airline cabins 2017 ■ Biggest plane, shortest flight: Emirates launches A380 route from Dubai to Doha ■ Jen's back! Emirates releases new advert with actress for its A380 service __________________________________ Follow The National's Business section on Twitter

Emirates’ first flight to US via Greece lands in Newark

The Dubai carrier has launched a daily return service to the United States via Athens that will serve the large US-Greek community as well as regular travellers.