MONTREAL — This week marked the launch of Emirates’ brand new daily flights between Montreal and Dubai, with the arrival of the inaugural passenger flight at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.

Emirates’ expansion into Montreal is the airline’s second largest Canadian gateway, complementing passenger services to Toronto. Emirates now serves Canada with 14 flights per week. The new flights follow the expanded air transport agreement between Canada and the UAE, announced in April. The agreement increases flight connectivity by over 40%.

The landmark touchdown in Montreal for flight EK243 was operated with a Boeing 777 aircraft, arriving at 8:30 a.m. local time and greeted with a procession of follow-me vehicles to the gate.

Emirates executives onboard included: Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer; Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations – Americas; and David Broz, Vice President Aeropolitical and Industry Affairs.

On arrival, the VIP delegation travelling from Dubai were welcomed by Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates’ Divisional Vice President – USA and Canada and Shaz Peshimam, Emirates’ Country Manager for Canada.

Emirates’ B77-300ER aircraft offers a three-class configuration, with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie flat seats in Business Class and 304 seats in Economy Class for the daily service.

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Emirates is excited to launch our service to Montréal, and to grow our network with a second gateway into Canada. We take this opportunity to thank the UAE and Canadian authorities and partners for supporting the launch of the service, which is expected to positively impact tourism, business and trade in both countries.

He added: “Complementing our services to Toronto, customers will now have more choice when planning trips to Canada – they now can fly directly to the country’s second largest metropolis whether for business, leisure, education or for visiting family and friends. Since we announced our plans to launch direct services to Montréal, we have witnessed healthy bookings from travellers planning trips to Canada from points in the UAE, India, Iran and Lebanon in addition to many Far East and African countries. The strong demand is testament to the quality of our product and travel experience we provide. We look forward to welcoming our customers onboard to experience our “fly better” proposition across all classes.”

Emirates’ flights to and from Montréal operate as EK243 and EK244. The daily flight departs Dubai International airport at 2:30 a.m., arriving in Montréal at 8 a.m. The return flight departs Montréal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport at 10:20 a.m., arriving in Dubai at 6:30 a.m. the next day.

The new daily service to Montréal complements Emirates’ seven weekly services to Toronto and takes the airline’s North American network to 14 destinations and a total of 18 across the Americas. The service provides Canadian travellers with access to Dubai, as well as connectivity to popular destinations such as Lebanon, India, Iran, Vietnam and Malaysia.

With the strategic partnership between Emirates and Air Canada, passengers have access to an expansive network of destinations. Air Canada passengers are able to access 17 cities in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Far East beyond Dubai. Emirates Skywards members can earn Miles on all eligible Air Canada flights and can redeem Miles for reward tickets across Air Canada’s network.

Canada is one of Dubai’s top 20 source markets for inbound tourism, with 158,000 Canadian visitors in 2022, more than double the number in 2021, according to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. More than 40,000 Canadians also live and work in Dubai.