Dubai: United Airlines on Tuesday inaugurated its new non-stop daily service from Dubai to Washington DC.

The event took place at a time when Emirates has launched flights to Los Angeles - the Dubai-based airline's third destination in the United States. United is the second US carrier to serve Dubai after Delta began services.

"The new service, which took off at 11.30pm from Dubai International bound for Washington Dulles Airport, is set to offer Middle East travellers access to a network of services across the United States," the airline said in a statement.

From Washington Dulles, customers can then fly on to over 80 destinations across the US, Canada and the Caribbean, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.

US Consul General for Dubai Paul Sutphin said: "United's new direct service between Dubai and Washington DC is a very welcome new option in travel between the UAE and the United States. It also serves to confirm the growing importance of Dubai as a destination, and as a regional and global hub that is being used by an increasing number of American travellers." The increased flights between Dubai and American cities will help boost traffic between the two economies, officials said.

Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports' chief executive, said, "It is an important development not just for Dubai Airports and United, but also for the hundreds of thousands of people who travel between Washington, the political capital of the world's largest economy, and Dubai - the commercial capital of the UAE and an international hub for business and trade. Bilateral ties between the US and the UAE go back a long way, and these will be further bolstered with the new service, bringing great cultural and commercial benefits to the two countries."

United plans to operate combined passenger and cargo service between the US and Dubai using a Boeing-777 aircraft. The Boeing-777 is configured with 10 United First Suite seats, 45 United Business seats and 198 United Economy class seats.