|
Dubai: The launch of Etihad Airways flights from Abu Dhabi to Beijing is set to play a significant role in increasing trade, tourism and investment relations between the UAE and China, the airline's chief executive James Hogan said on Saturday.
Business opportunities between the UAE and China will be boosted from March 30 when Etihad begins its four-flights-per-week service to the Chinese capital from the UAE's capital, offering a passenger capacity of more than 2,000 seats every week.
"China and the UAE are both experiencing massive economic expansion and Etihad Airways is extremely excited at the prospect of helping to strengthen trade ties between the two nations. There is a huge appetite from business and leisure travellers for flights to Beijing, especially ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games this year, and our forward bookings are already ahead of our expectations," said Hogan.
The UAE is home to nearly 200,000 Chinese and more than 2,000 Chin-ese companies. The volume of trade between the UAE and China, acknowledged to be the world's fastest growing economy, reached $20.4 billion (Dh74.9 billion) in 2007, a huge increase of 41.2 per cent on the previous year.
The UAE is now China's second largest trade partner in the Gulf and the largest market for Chinese exports.
The value of Chinese exports to the UAE increased by 50 per cent in 2007 to $17 billion with an increase of 7.7 per cent in the amount of UAE goods being exported to China to$3 billion.
"Recent years have witnessed a fast-growing relationship between China and the UAE. It is my sincere hope that Etihad Airways will build upon this exciting opportunity and further explore the Chinese market by launching more direct flights to other cities in the country," said Yusheng Gao, the Chinese Ambassador to the UAE.
Etihad is offering discounted introductory fares on the Beijing flights with return economy tickets starting at Dh1,340 and business class tickets at Dh6,440, excluding taxes.
The number of annual Chinese visitors to the UAE currently stands at 200,000 but is set to increase significantly, following the signing of a recent memorandum of understanding between the two countries.
Eighth destination
Beijing will be Etihad's eighth destination in the Asia-Pacific region, which already includes services to Brisbane, Sydney, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok.
Etihad will operate a two class Airbus A330-200 configured to carry 262 passengers with 22 in business class and 240 in economy class.
Cargo services to Beijing are also expected to be highly popular with the A330-200 aircraft able to carry 15 tonnes of cargo with full passenger load.
|
