Emirates upgrades Lusaka, Harare routes

Emirates, a fast-growing international airline, will add more than 1,600 seats a week on its Lusaka and Harare routes when it introduces a Boeing 777-300ER on its daily flight from Dubai commencing February 1.
A 354-seat Boeing 777-300ER, the longest passenger aircraft ever to touch down in Lusaka and Harare, will replace a 237-seat Airbus A330-200 on the route — a capacity increase of more than 50 percent.
The upgrade comes on the first anniversary of the route’s launch.
Since February 1, 2012 more than 55,000 passengers have traveled with Emirates on the Dubai-Lusaka-Harare route.
“Our Lusaka and Harare service has come of age and with demand continuing to increase, this is the right time for Emirates to be expanding its capacity,” said Jean Luc Grillet, Emirates’ senior vice president, commercial operations for Africa.
“With the introduction of this larger aircraft, we will offer almost 5,000 seats total every week on the route between Dubai, Lusaka and Harare.”
Emirates’ key destinations for Zambian and Zimbabwean travelers include Dubai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Hong Kong and Bombay.
The Boeing 777-300ER is the backbone of the Emirates fleet, with 82 in service and a further 69 on order.
The arrival of the larger aircraft will mean an increase in cargo carrying capacity of some 22 percent to more than 18,000 kg per flight.
EK 713 departs Dubai every day at 0925hrs, arriving in Lusaka at 1435hrs. The service departs Lusaka at 1620hrs, arriving in Harare at 1720. T
The return flight leaves Harare at 1850, arriving Lusaka at 1950. It departs Lusaka at 2125 and lands in Dubai at 0640hrs the next day.