United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Emirates Airline has announced it will expand its South American network from January 2012 with a new daily link from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro with an extension to the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. The new service will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft offering eight First Class Private Suites, 42 lie-flat seats in Business and 304 seats in Economy and will launch from January 3.
Brazil has been part of the Emirates network since 2007 when it inaugurated flights to Sao Paulo and with the country playing host to both the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup and 2016 Olympics, traffic into the country is expected to soar over the coming decade.
“Both Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro are rightly renowned as world-class leisure destinations as well as important business and trading centres. Our research has shown that there is a high demand for these cities from across our network,” said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group.
Over the last few years, South America has experienced record-paced economic growth, even in the shadow of the global downturn of 2008. Brazil stands as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, thanks to its success in the petroleum sector, a young and active workforce and stability in urban growth. Trade between Brazil and the Middle East follows the trend: according to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, exports to Arab countries totalled US$12.57 billion in 2010, representing an annual growth of 34 per cent, while imports ended the year with US$6.96 billion, an increase of 33 per cent compared to 2009.
Argentina has also experienced positive economic growth in 2010. Tourism, one of the country’s major economic drivers, is a good indicator. According to INDEC (Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses) there were 2.6 million foreign tourist arrivals at Buenos Aires airports in 2010, (an annual increase of 27 per cent). Government projections for international visitors for the 2010-2012 period are very optimistic with Asian markets expected to increase their current share of the tourism market.
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NOTE: Schedule data extracted from Flightbase for week commencing April 14, 2011; Traffic data extracted from IATA BSP system for the year ending January 2011.
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