Emirates touches down in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida

Emirates has launched its 11th destination in the United States with the start of a daily nonstop passenger service between Dubai and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. A VIP delegation and a contingent of international media were aboard the inaugural flight, which carried passengers from North America, the Far East, the Middle East, South Asia, the Asian subcontinent and Africa.

Fort Lauderdale is Emirates’ second destination in Florida, after launching Orlando more than a year ago. The new service, operated by a GE-powered Boeing 777, marks the first scheduled commercial service from the Middle East to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport serving the South Florida area of Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach.

“Our new daily service to Fort Lauderdale will significantly enhance South Florida’s commercial and cultural connections. Emirates is proud to connect people across the globe and today’s inaugural flight illustrates the reach of our global network and the potential tourism and trade opportunities of our daily service,” said Hubert Frach, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, West. “The launch of this historic route will allow us to offer Emirates’ unique product and award-winning service to passengers flying to and from South Florida to our home in Dubai and onwards to more than 150 global destinations.” 

The new service will operate as flight EK213, departing from Dubai International Airport at 3:30 a.m. local time and arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) at 10:55 a.m. The return flight, EK214, will depart FLL at 8:20 p.m, and arrive in Dubai at 7:40 p.m. the next day, with a flying time of 14 hours and 20 minutes. T

he route will be operated by a GE-powered US-built Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in a three-class configuration offering 8 First Class suites, 42 Business Class lie-flat beds and 216 Economy Class seats for travellers, and up to 15 tonnes of bellyhold cargo for shippers.

Passengers wishing to travel beyond the Fort Lauderdale-Miami area to onward destinations can take advantage of Emirates’ partnership with JetBlue Airways (B6) that offers connection options to 32 destinations in the U.S. and connection to destinations in Bahamas, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, and Peru.

Passengers from the Middle East, Africa, South Asian subcontinent, and the Far East can enjoy quick and convenient connections in Dubai before they travel onwards to Fort Lauderdale. In particular, passengers from destinations such as Beirut, Doha, Riyadh, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Cebu, Singapore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, as well as Colombo and Karachi will experience connection times of less than four hours while in Dubai.

With the launch of Orlando last year, the new service to Fort Lauderdale-Miami will provide travellers with more options for to make the most of their journey. The increased flexibility to business and leisure travellers, combined with the ease and convenience of flying into and out these two gateways, is expected to add significant visitor numbers to the State of Florida.

Fort Lauderdale is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States thanks to its abundant sunshine and temperate weather. Its immaculate beaches and championship golf courses attract leisure travellers. Fort Lauderdale is also a popular destination for the cruise industry with Broward County’s Port Everglades one of the top 3 busiest cruise ports in the world with more than 4 million annual visitors.

Emirates’ new route will also serve the South Florida area, including Miami and West Palm Beach. Just a 30 minute drive away, Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the US and its metropolitan area is the eighth-largest in the US with a population of 5.5 million people. Hispanics and Latinos comprise more than 70% of the city’s population, and have created a cultural fabric that is unique to Miami. Miami is also one of America’s cultural meccas, famous for its exclusive take on nightlife, art, music, architecture and cuisine.

Fort Lauderdale will be the 11th U.S. passenger destination Emirates serves, following on from Orlando which launched in September 2015. The airline has been serving the U.S. since 2004 and currently operates 119 passenger flights per week between Dubai and the U.S. Since 2004, Emirates has carried more than 16.1 million passengers on its U.S. flights and 740,000 tons of high value goods between the U.S. and Dubai.