Emirates Airlines officially launched daily direct flights between Dubai and Shenzhen on Tuesday, marking a significant milestone as the first Middle East carrier to offer scheduled daily service to the southern Chinese city.
The new route, operated by a refurbished Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, features flight EK328 departing Dubai at 10:05 local time and arriving in Shenzhen at 22:00, with return flight EK329 leaving Shenzhen at 23:55 and arriving in Dubai at 03:40 the following day.
With this addition, Shenzhen becomes the fourth Chinese mainland city - after Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou - to host Emirates nonstop flights.
Orhan Abbas, Emirates' Senior Vice President for commercial operations, said that the new route shows the importance of the Chinese market for the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based airline.
"We are building a corridor for trade, culture from China to the rest of the network. Our commitment to growing in China today (is proven) with our start of operations to Shenzhen. We, last year, carried one million passengers in 2024 between the UAE and China and 117,000 tons of cargo. That shows you the strength of Emirates in China and to China," he said.
Business representatives from both Dubai and Shenzhen highlighted the airline's pivotal role in enhancing trade and tourism connectivity between the UAE and China.
"For the tourism, it's opened up a huge potential for this city. As you can see, the city we are rapidly transforming from tech town to a well-rounded destination. We have world-class architecture and the dynamic luxury fine dining options, and luxury shopping and the coastal sceneries, which we believe will highly attract all those leisure travelers and international business travelers," said Solomon Carter, General Manager of Conrad Shenzhen.
"Last year, we witnessed a very healthy growth compared to 2023 in bilateral trade, which reached around 90 percent growth. So, having 80.7 billion US dollars of bilateral trade between Dubai and China. So, having direct access to a city of innovation, a city that's globally recognized as one of the most innovative and high-tech cities will definitely benefit the bilateral trade and will add a very important angle of the growth of services between the two cities, especially in digital economy," said Mohammad Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers.
Emirates launches Dubai-Shenzhen daily route
