Emirates airline to double its glasgow service

Emirates will launch a second daily non-stop service to the Scottish city of Glasgow starting on June 1, the carrier said on Tuesday in a statement. Since adding Glasgow to its network in 2004, Emirates has achieved a huge increase in demand on the route, having carried more than 1.7 million passengers and tens of millions of kilos of cargo to the city, the airline said. The additional flight will also result in direct econ-omic benefits as Glasgow authorities estimate the twice-daily service will result in a local economic boost of Dh187 million (£33 million) with an expected 140,000 inbound passengers this year. Over the next five years the Dubai-Glasgow route is estimated to be worth more than Dh1.1 billion to the city, bringing more than 846,000 passengers to Glasgow through to 2016, according to the statement. Article continues below It added that the second service, coupled with an aircraft upgrade on the existing service, will increase the airline's capacity to Glasgow by 47 per cent and also provide an additional 13 tonnes of daily cargo capacity. "From a starting point in 2004, Emirates' Dubai route has proved a huge success, generating over £164 million (Dh931 million) to date for the local economy and bringing more than 687,000 passengers to Glasgow," said Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau. Salem Obaidullah, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe and Russian Federation said the move illustrated Emirates' commitment to Scotland and to the wider UK route network "in difficult economic times".