UAE: Emirates Launched Flights Joining Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa And Venice Marco Polo,

Mayor of Bologna, Virginio Merola; Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ EVP and CCO Commercial Operations Worldwide; and Enrico Postacchini, Chairman of Bologna Airport, were among the VIPs at the launch of Emirates’ fourth Italian route to Bologna on 3 November. Emirates began serving Italy in 1992 when it launched thrice-weekly services to Rome Fiumicino. Now it operates 56 weekly flights to the country.

Emirates launched its fourth Italian gateway on 3 November, joining Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Venice Marco Polo, following the arrival of the airline’s daily 777-300 service in Bologna (BLQ) from its Dubai (DXB) hub.

Emirates began serving Italy in 1992 when it launched thrice-weekly services to Fiumicino and now it operates 56 weekly flights to the country.

Highlighting the airline’s connectivity with the East, passengers on the inaugural flight travelled through to Bologna from a diverse mix of destinations including; Dubai, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Taipei.

“Our new daily flight to Bologna combines not only our world-class service but also convenient access to this important Italian gateway from across our global network.

As the only wide-bodied aircraft to operate from Bologna we bring to the region an unrivalled customer experience across all three cabin classes,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ EVP and CCO Commercial Operations Worldwide.

Enrico Postacchini, Chairman of Bologna Airport said: “The new Emirates’ link to Dubai is an important opportunity for our region, a fundamental outlet to the Far East for companies with a strong international vocation and a new gateway for incoming tourism.

We are pleased to welcome Emirates to the Airport of Bologna, an airline of great importance that will allow us to boost Bologna’s international appeal.

I would like to extend our gratitude to our partners, and in particular Bologna’s Chamber of Commerce, which has always believed and invested in the development of the airport.” No other airline operates this city pair.

UAE: Emirates Starts Daily Direct Flights To Bologna

Emirates Airline on Tuesday launched direct, daily flights to Bologna, its fourth Italian city after Rome, Venice and Milan.

Airline looking to draw more leisure and business travellers from East and West

Water cannons received the Boeing 777-300 at the turmac of the city, which is rich in its art, culture, trade and known world-wide for its medieval historical centres.

Bologna has a “good customer base and we want to offer people the option of flying from here”, Thierry Antinori, Emirates Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial officer Commercial Operations Worldwide, told Gulf News.

“It is going to be a very popular destination,” he added.

Emirates airline is planning to connect tourists and businessmen from Asian countries to Bologna and to offer the tourists from Europe the option of flying to the East though Dubai.

In order to achieve the goal, the senior official announced during the press conference that Emirates airline will bring 12 media groups from the different far eastern countries to Bologna in the next two months.

Emirates wants “to show them the city, because it is not known as Venice or Rome, also because we want to be successful and, to be successful, part of the job is to do the job by yourself,” he said.

While Emriates airline has a total of 1,000 Italians working with it world-wide, the UAE has the biggest Italian community east of Europe.

Enrico Postacchini, Chairman of Bologna Airport, told Gulf News that the airport has a capacity of over seven million passengers a year. Plans for further investment to increase the capacity are under way, he added.

Bologna airport is among the top European airports in terms of connectivity, he added.