DUBAI - Dubai airline Emirates said on Wednesday it will add new services to key Asian destinations, boosting its seat capacity for the region by 13 percent from December to capitalise on increased demand.
There will be 17 new flights per week on the Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta routes, taking the number of weekly flights to 187, the airline said.
Emirates said it will introduce a fourth daily service to Bangkok, a third daily service to Sydney, two additional flights to Manila and one additional service to Jakarta.
Richard Jewsbury, senior vice-president of commercial operations for Far East and Australasia, said in a statement that "Asian markets are rebounding with reports of resurgent traffic at key airports in the region".
International passenger traffic in the Middle East has continued to grow this year despite airlines in major markets such as the U.S. and Europe struggling in the travel downturn due to the global economic recession, monthly data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows.
Asia joined the Middle East in positive growth in September, according to the latest IATA figures.
Passenger traffic rose 2.1 percent for Asia-Pacific carriers in September on the same month last year, compared with a drop of 1.6 percent for August.
Middle Eastern carriers saw their traffic during the month soaring 18.2 percent year-on-year, helped by Eid al-Fitr travel demand.
Airlines in the Middle East continue to receive new aircraft as part of their huge orders placed in previous years.
Emirates operates 139 wide-bodied planes and has another about 150 on order to be delivered in the coming years.
An Emirates spokesman said the increase in Asia capacity is not being done by reducing capacity on other routes.
Citing weak U.S. travel, Emirates in June replaced the A380 aircraft on its New York service with a smaller Boeing plane, redeploying the super-jumbo on its Toronto and Bangkok routes. It also uses A380s on its London and Sydney-Auckland routes.
Emirates said in September it will redeploy the A380 for New York in the first half of 2010 to match expected greater demand.