Emirates launches Dubai-Shenzhen daily route

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

A local villager has captured rare footage of a wild giant panda roaming freely on a hillside in southwest China's Sichuan Province, with the creature spotted strolling by a nearby building.

In the clip shot by a local resident in Pingwu County of Mianyang City on May 8, the wild giant panda appears to be quietly going about its business as it slowly climbs a hillside with a calm and unhurried gait.

Many netizens raised questions after seeing the footage online, prompting an expert to share insights about the panda and offer some safety precautions.

Tu Zhengbin, deputy head of the Wildlife Protection Section of Forestry and Grassland Bureau in Pingwu County, explained why the panda is likely to have appeared at this location and detailed its physical condition.

"From the video, there is a reservoir nearby. It may have come down to drink some water. Based on the panda's size and its fur, we can basically determine that it is an adult giant panda. Moreover, you can see that the panda is walking rather briskly, indicating that it is in quite good health," said Tu.

Pingwu is one of the areas with the highest concentration of wild giant pandas in China, with more than 52 percent of the county's land area being designated as part of the Giant Panda National Park.

In recent years, local authorities have continued to capture numerous images of wild giant pandas using unobtrusive scientific monitoring methods such as infrared cameras.

The frequency of wild giant pandas coming down from the mountains and wandering into human-inhabited areas has also notably increased.

With this in mind, Tu also emphasized that proper safety measures should be taken when encountering a wild giant panda.

"If we encounter a giant panda in the wild, the first thing to do is to stay away from it. The second is to not make any loud noises. This way, we can both protect the giant panda and ensure our own safety," he said.

The number of wild giant pandas in China has risen from around 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900 today, with the steady increase being largely down to the comprehensive conservation efforts undertaken in recent years.

Rare sighting as wild giant panda spotted strolling on hillside in southwest China