Two months after restarting flights to Lebanon, following their suspension amid Israel's war with Hezbollah, Emirates is reinstating its second daily flight between Dubai and Beirut from April 1.
The additional flight, using a Boeing 777-300ER, will boost weekly passenger capacity by more than 5,000 seats both ways, the Dubai airline said.
Emirates flight EK957 will take off from Dubai International at 7.30am local time, arriving at Beirut's Rafic Al Hariri International Airport at 10.35am local time. The return flight, EK958, will depart from Beirut at 12.05pm and will arrive in Dubai at 4.55pm.
The daily flight is in addition to EK953, also served by a Boeing 777-300ER, which leaves Dubai at 11.30am local time, arriving in Beirut at 2pm local time. The return flight, EK954, leaves Beirut at 3.30pm local time, landing in Dubai at 9.20pm local time.
Emirates resumed its Dubai-Beirut flights on February 1 following a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. The ceasefire boosted efforts to maintain peace in Lebanon, following the election of President Joseph Aoun.
Emirates unveiled plans to reinstate the second flight last month. Other UAE airlines, including Etihad and Air Arabia, had resumed flights to Beirut in December.
Ultra-low cost airline Wizz Air Abu Dhabi announced this month it will launch flights from Abu Dhabi to Beirut three times a week starting on June 4.
Johan Eidhagen, the managing director of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, told The National that his airline's entry into the market was “a sign of Lebanon normalising”. Tourism to Lebanon will recover “relatively fast” with the Middle East as a tourism destination growing “massively”, he added.
