Emirates flags three times Perth-Dubai daily service

On the eve of the launch of its second service to Perth, Emirates is flagging a third daily service between Perth and Dubai.
The airline today also opened its new first and business class lounge at Perth's international terminal.
Speaking to WA Business News today Richard Vaughan, SVP Commercial Operations East Asia and Australasia said the airline will be discussing increasing services later this year with the Australian Government.
"Our plan is to increase services [third service] as soon as demand is there," Mr Vaughan said.
Emirates will introduce a four times weekly daylight flight to Dubai and Europe on March 3.
From September 1 that service will operate daily and will see the return of the popular 777-200ER.
From December 1 the current evening service operated by leased A340-300s will be upgraded to the brand new 777-300ER.
At that time Emirates will be offering 658 seats a day - more than double the current 264 seats.
Mr Vaughan told WA Business News that bookings for the new service "were solid".
The flight - EK425 - will depart Perth at 6.30am and arrive in Dubai at 1.45pm, connecting directly with EK003 at 2.30pm to London Heathrow arriving at 6.15pm.
The flight also connects with services to London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf Istanbul and Nairobi.
However, Mr Vaughan watered down speculation that Perth would see the giant 555-seat A380 when it enters service next year with Emirates.
"Perth airport is certainly ready however the problem is the capability to handle the aircraft at alternate airports, should they be required."
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Below is an edited announcement regarding the new lounge:

The new Emirates First and Business Class Lounge at Perth Airport's Terminal 1 (International) was officially opened yesterday.

Perth Airport CEO Graham Muir was pleased that Emirates had chosen to create a lounge in Perth on the same scale and quality of its award winning Dubai lounges.

"The 585m2 Emirates lounge at Perth Airport is part of a $2.5 million project by Westralia Airports Corporation to expand business lounge facilities at Terminal 1," he said.

The facilities are available to first and business class Emirates passengers as well as gold members of the Emirates and Sri Lankan frequent flier program, Skywards.

"We are also pleased that Emirates will expand their Perth services from 7 to 11 per week in March and introduce a double daily service in September this year, further demonstrating the fast growing airline's confidence in the Perth market," Mr Muir said.

The launch of the Emirates lounge follows last year's opening of an upgraded security screening area and a $25 million extension which added 2500m2 of floor space and 14 additional check-in counters in Terminal 1.

The works also included replacing the existing check-in counters and installing an inline, checked baggage security screening and automated baggage-handling system.