“One piece of this successful puzzle in Portugal that is still missing is Porto”, but the Emirates' country manager, assured that this operation “is not forgotten and will restart in the airline’s next financial year, which runs from April 2024 to March 2025.”

The four weekly connections between Porto and Dubai were interrupted in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Quito said: “We expect Porto to be relaunched next year because it is a destination in Portugal that will complete this missing piece”.

Regarding the resumption of this route, the head of Emirates in Portugal left another piece of good news for the market in the north of the country, according to Pulituris. Connections between Porto and Dubai will be operated with new equipment, the A350s, which will arrive at the air carrier next year. “Emirates has not had new equipment in recent years, its fleet is very stable, consisting essentially of A380s and Boeing 777s. Therefore, the A350 will be completely new equipment for the company, with a three-class configuration, business, economy premium and economy”, while the two daily flights from Lisbon will maintain B777-300 aircraft with 360 seats.

David Quito highlighted that the Lisbon route, “also continues to be a success and in October we achieved record occupancy rates for first class and business class in 11 years of presence in the country”.

The official indicated that “we continue to have Portugal as a destination of choice for many Asian markets, namely India and China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia continue to operate very well, and Emirates is one of the most used airlines on the routes from Asia, where we continue to be very successful”, he concluded.