Emirates, claimed to be the world’s largest international airline, has announced three new weekly flights between Dubai and Cairo, commencing on Jan. 1.

The new service will supplement the current twice daily Boeing 777-300ER flights, taking the total number of flights serving Cairo to 17 each week.

The additional flights will boost the number of connection options that Emirates offers to passengers heading into or from Egypt’s capital city, to destinations in the Middle East, Asia and Americas. This includes popular cities served by Emirates’ A380s such as Beijing, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Mumbai, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto.

“We are delighted to be able to grow our business in Cairo on the back of commercial demand and great customer support. In the past eight years, the route has carried over 2.7 million passengers and moved over 200,000 tons of cargo,” said Adil Al-Ghaith, SVP commercial operations for northern and western Africa.

Apart from the increased passenger capacity, the extra frequencies will allow Emirates SkyCargo to carry an additional 17 tons of cargo per trip, including perishables, automotive spare parts, pharmaceutical products, personal effects and electronics.

Emirates started operations to Cairo in April 1986 with three flights a week. Operations have steadily grown with increases in both frequency and capacity between Cairo and Dubai.

Emirates will operate the new weekly flights with an Airbus A330-200, offering 12 seats in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 183 Economy Class seats.

Throughout all cabin classes, passengers can enjoy hundreds of channels of entertainment on demand on ice, the airline's award-winning in-flight entertainment system. Emirates customers also have the added bonus of a baggage allowance with 30 km for those traveling in Economy Class, 40 km for Business Class and 50 km for First Class.