Emirates has underscored its commitment to China with the launch of a new service from Dubai to Yinchuan and Zhengzhou, two of the fastest growing cities in Midwest China. This service expands Emirates’ destination offering on the mainland to five, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Using a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and offering business travellers more flexibility and greater connectivity to and from China, Emirates will provide the highest level of service. The airline’s Private Suites for First Class travellers on the Yinchuan and Zhengzhou route will be the first-of-its-kind in these two markets.

Emirates also caters to the needs of the Chinese market with Mandarin-speaking cabin crew on board, and inflight gourmet cuisine options including popular Chinese dishes. As with all Emirates flights, passengers in all cabin classes can enjoy the award-winning ice Digital Widescreen with more than 2,500 channels of on-demand entertainment to choose from, including movies, TV shows, music and games, as well as Mandarin language movies and music. Wi-Fi is also available with 10MB of free data or 500MB for just US$1.

“Emirates is very pleased to start services to Yinchuan and Zhengzhou,” says chairman and chief executive of Emirates Sheikh Ahmed. “This new route will provide citizens in and near both cities with convenient and fast connections to destinations in the Middle East, Africa and Europe via Dubai. We are confident the new air transport links will also help boost trade and tourism flows to the growing central and western parts of China where these cities are located.”

Emirates flights to Yinchuan and Zhengzhou will depart on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from Dubai as EK326 at 02:50, arriving at Yinchuan Hedong International Airport at 13:35. The service will then depart from Yinchuan at 15:35 and arrive at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport at 17:15. The return flight, EK327, will depart Zhengzhou at 21:15, arriving at Yinchuan at 23:00. It will then depart Yinchuan at 00:40, arriving in Dubai at 04:30 local time the next day. www.emirates.com