Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
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In addition to passenger service, the Chicago-Dubai flight will carry up to 17 tons of cargo per flight and increase trade links between the two cities. Emirates began operating cargo service to Chicago in 2013. Currently, Emirates SkyCargo flies a twice-weekly, dedicated freight service out of O’Hare that carried nearly 12,000 tons of cargo last year.
Emirates began passenger services to the U.S. in 2004 with services to New York. The airline has steadily added more U.S. routes over the past decade. Chicago is the ninth U.S. gateway to join the Emirates network, following the launch of the Boston service in March. In the past decade, Emirates has flown more than 9 million people to and from the U.S. and is the airline which carries the most amount of passengers between the U.S. and Middle East. To cater to that demand, Emirates is upsizing services on its Dallas, San Francisco and Houston routes to its iconic double-decker A380 aircraft in late 2014.
Chicago is home to 2.7 million residents. The broader Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest gross domestic product in the United States and is home to approximately 400 corporate headquarters including Fortune 500 companies such as McDonald’s Corp., Walgreen Co., Abbott Laboratories and Boeing Co. – the world’s largest aerospace company.
Emirates is the largest operator of Boeing 777 aircraft in the world, with a fleet of 128 passenger aircraft and 11 freighters. The airline is a launch customer of Boeing’s new 777X. In November 2013, Emirates placed the largest single order in commercial aviation history for 150 777X aircraft valued at $76 billion. Based on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s aerospace export multiplier, this order will support more than 400,000 jobs in the United States.
In addition to being one of America’s most important economic engines, Chicago is famous for its cuisine, arts and entertainment, professional sports, neo-classical architecture and iconic tourist destinations that host more than 48 million visitors each year.
From deep dish pizza and hot dogs with eclectic condiments to the city’s 25 Michelin Star restaurants, Chicago is one of America’s rising culinary capitals and will host the prestigious 2015 James Beard Awards. Chicago’s professional sports teams routinely rank at the top of all American franchises in terms of attendance and financial value. Chicago is the birthplace of urban blues and house music, and has produced homegrown stars such as Buddy Guy, Wilco, Chaka Khan, Eddie Vedder, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and the late Frankie Knuckles, godfather of Chicago’s house music.
Chicago is also considered to be America’s urban architectural jewel. Its famous neoclassical architecture dates back to the city’s redesign following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Chicago’s Sears Tower – now called the Willis Tower – stood as the tallest building in the world for 25 years following its construction in 1973. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa currently holds the title at more than 160 stories (828m).
Dubai is the largest financial hub in the Middle East and offers excellent convention and exhibition facilities, leisure attractions and shopping options. With more than 55,000 hotel rooms, Dubai is a top travel destination for work and pleasure. Emirates’ global hub in Terminal 3 Dubai International (DXB) provides passengers with seamless connectivity in state-of-the-art surroundings. The Chicago-Dubai flight will offer convenient connections to other destinations throughout the Middle East, Africa, India, the Far East and beyond.
Whilst aboard the 14-hour, 40-minute flight, passengers can enjoy Emirates’ renowned service provided by a multilingual crew from more than 120 countries, gourmet on-board dining and inflight entertainment system – ice Digital Widescreen – with more than 1,800 channels of movies, TV programs, music and podcasts. Ice has just been voted the world’s best inflight entertainment system for the tenth year in a row by Skytrax, the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey of more than 18 million passengers worldwide.
The aircraft features a three-cabin configuration with eight private First Class suites, 42 Business Class lie-flat beds and 216 Economy Class seats.
Tickets are now available for sale on www.emirates.com or through preferred travel agents.
