The FINANCIAL — Emirates announced on January 12 that it will further expand its European network with the introduction of a daily flight from Dubai to Zagreb (ZAG), the capital of Croatia from June 1, 2017.
The new southeast European destination will be served by an Emirates Boeing 777-300 aircraft, the only wide-body service operating to/from Zagreb.
“Emirates has had a commercial presence in Croatia since 2003, so to launch full operations is a natural progression. Emirates is pleased to have this opportunity to add such a picturesque destination to our global route network. We look forward to working with our partners and stakeholders in Croatia to provide our world renowned service to our customers on our young, modern fleet of aircraft. We are also committed to our contribution to growing the trade and tourism flows between Croatia and Dubai, as well as encouraging incoming tourism from the Middle East and Asia Pacific, where Emirates operates 45 destinations,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
The new Zagreb flight opens a whole new exciting region for Emirates’ passengers to explore. The city itself is steeped in culture and history, with an abundance of charming pavement cafes and restaurants to be enjoyed during the spring and summer months. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital city offers easy access to the mountains and national parks for energetic travellers to hike, or visitors can simply admire the natural beauty and capture the stunning vistas for Instagram or the holiday photo album. During the winter months, the ski resort of Sljeme on mountain Medvednica is just a twenty minute drive away and is a great alternative to the busy Alpine slopes, according to Emirates.
On Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, the picturesque resort of Split and the exclusive islands of Hvar and Brac can be found. Further around the coast, the UNESCO protected historical centre of Dubrovnik tempts visitors with its baroque cathedral and distinctive walled Old Town, which may have caught the eye of TV fans as ‘King’s Landing’ in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones. The city’s stunning architecture has also been selected by Disney as a filming location for the latest in the Star Wars franchise, Episode VIII, out later in 2017.
The country is a popular destination for business and leisure travel from around the world, in particular with tourists from Far Eastern destinations like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, plus Australia. The favourable flight times offered on Emirates’ new service will make travelling to Zagreb from these markets and many more, a more seamless and enjoyable experience.
The new flights will not only benefit travellers in Croatia, but also those in neighbouring Slovenia and even the southern regions of Hungary and Austria making it more convenient to travel with Emirates to Dubai and beyond. Visiting the airline’s home of Dubai for leisure or business, in a choice of three different cabins, on a modern, wide-body aircraft, is now a viable option. Onward travel to Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, or Sydney, Melbourne, Maldives, Seychelles and Sri Lanka can all be reached with less than four hours’ transit time.
Business travellers into Zagreb will appreciate the convenient early afternoon landing into Franjo Tuđman (Pleso) International Airport from Dubai. Dubbed the new ‘Silicon Valley’ owing to its reputation for being an incubator for tech start-ups thanks to a growing population of highly-educated young professionals, Zagreb is central to industry in the region. In addition to new technology and telecoms, many of the largest Croatian and Central European companies and conglomerates have their headquarters or regional offices in the city centre.
From the perspective of trade and commerce, the whole southeast Europe region will now be more accessible to businesses in the Middle East and beyond, an area previously unreached by an Emirates route. Emirates’ daily 777 service will also offer up to 16 tonnes of cargo per flight, opening up access to more global markets for Croatian exports, and to support trade.
Scheduled flight times for EK129 (departing Dubai at 08:15hours and arriving in Zagreb at 12:20hours local time) and the return flight EK130 (departing Zagreb at 15:35hours and arriving in Dubai at 23:05hours).
The three-class configured Emirates Boeing 777-300 which will operate on the route offers 12 lie-flat seats in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 310 spacious seats in Economy Class. Passengers can enjoy up to 2,500 channels of on demand audio and visual entertainment on Emirates’ award winning ice entertainment system and gourmet a la carte cuisine in all classes. Emirates’ famed service and hospitality will be provided by multi-national cabin crew from over 130 countries, including 234 crew members from Croatia.
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