Emirates green flight to San Francisco arrives to warm welcome

Emirates, one of the world’s fastest-growing international airlines, this week (December 16th) marked the arrival of flight EK225, its first non-stop service between Dubai and San Francisco, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

At a media briefing held after the arrival of the flight, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline and Group was joined by Steve Kava, San Francisco Mayor’s Chief of Staff, and San Francisco International Airport Director John Martin.

"Emirates promises Bay Area travellers and businesspeople an opportunity to reach Dubai and key transit markets including the Indian Subcontinent and Africa easily and more quickly than ever before," said Sheikh Ahmed.

“This new service from SFO creates a critical new connection between Northern California and Dubai – a destination for business and tourism unlike any other in the world. We look forward to contributing a significant, positive economic impact for San Francisco and its surrounding region with our new service,” he added.

The arrival of Emirates Airline to San Francisco will facilitate incoming tourism and business traffic, bringing in travellers from the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa; creating new jobs in the Bay Area while generating state and local tax revenue, and business revenues. The non-stop air link will also help the growth of trade between California and the UAE which in 2007 saw close to $950 million worth of exports from the US state to the UAE.

“The arrival of Emirates Airline to San Francisco is an economic boon for the city of San Francisco,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. “Emirates’ new route will bring new jobs and revenue to San Francisco, while creating a vital new corridor for business and tourism between the Bay Area and Dubai. It’s my pleasure to welcome Emirates to San Francisco.”

“The greater the global connections the greater the success for regions like the Bay Area and Dubai in the new global economy,” said Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council. “The Bay Area has the fourth highest concentration of Forbes 2,000 Global Companies and 645 foreign-owned company subsidiaries. In uncertain times, the Bay Area needs the economic stimulus and expansion of business opportunities this launch represents.”

Emirates' inaugural flight was a dual milestone of commencing services between two great cities and demonstrating the best the airline industry can offer in environmental efficiency. The first Dubai-San Francisco non-stop service marked the world’s longest green flight, on which Emirates employed multiple eco-efficient initiatives to save fuel and emissions.

Emirates has made a multi-billion-dollar investment in new, eco-efficient aircraft, and on its San Francisco route it will deploy the state-of-the-art Boeing 777-200LR. Emirates worked closely with government agencies in Dubai, Iceland, Russia, Canada the United States and other countries to plot the most environmentally-conscientious trip possible to save approximately 2,000 gallons of fuel and 40,000 pounds of carbon emissions on the 16-hour direct service.

The 777-200LR is a member of the most fuel-efficient airplane family operating today. Along with its unique ability to connect Dubai and San Francisco non-stop, the 777-200LR brings better environmental performance to destinations around the world. The aircraft's aerodynamic landing gear and twin engines also allow for a smaller noise footprint- as much as 25 decibels below the standard.

In one year, a fleet of 16 twin-engine aircraft powered by GE 90 engines will emit 141,000 fewer tons of greenhouse gas emissions than when using an airframe requiring four engines – this savings accounts for an area twice the size of Manhattan.

Emirates' Boeing 777-200LR offers 266 seats in a three-class configuration and provides up to ten tons of cargo capacity. Emirates will operate non-stop flights between San Francisco and Dubai three times a week – on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays – before increasing to daily service in May 2009.

Emirates Flight EK225 departs Dubai at 8:45 am and arrives in San Francisco at 1:00 pm local time the same day. The return route, Flight EK226, departs San Francisco at 4:45 p.m., arriving in Dubai at 7:25 p.m. the following day.