Emirates launched its 11th destination in the US with the start of a daily nonstop passenger service between Dubai and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) on Thursday.

Fort Lauderdale is Emirates’ second destination in Florida, after launching Orlando more than a year ago. The new service, operated by a GE-powered Boeing 777, marks the first scheduled commercial service from the Middle East to FLL serving the South Florida area of Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach.
“The launch of this historic route will allow us to offer Emirates’ unique product and award-winning service to passengers flying to and from South Florida to our home in Dubai and onwards to more than 150 global destinations,” said Hubert Frach, Emirates divisional senior vice president, Commercial Operations, West.
“With an estimated annual economic impact to our region of more than $100mn and approximately 1,000 new jobs as a direct and indirect result of Emirates arrival, we are confident this new service will mark the beginning of many more great things to come”, said Mark Gale, CEO/director of Aviation, FLL.
Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief pointed out that the FLL is one of the fastest growing airports in the US, servicing more than 29 million passengers this year.
“Broward County is a leading destination market for tourists and an economic hub for businesses large and small. We have recently invested $2.4bn to expand and renovate our airport to insure world class service now and in the future,” she stated.
The new service will operate as flight EK213, departing from Dubai International Airport at 3.30am local time and arriving at FLL at 10.55am. The return flight, EK214, will depart FLL at 8.20pm, and arrive in Dubai at 7.40pm the next day, with a flying time of 14 hours and 20 minutes. The route will be operated by a GE-powered US-built Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in a three-class configuration offering eight First Class suites, 42 Business Class lie-flat beds and 216 Economy Class seats for travellers, and up to 15 tonnes of bellyhold cargo for shippers.
Passengers wishing to travel beyond the Fort Lauderdale-Miami area to onward destinations can take advantage of Emirates’ partnership with JetBlue Airways that offers connection options to 32 destinations in the US and connection to destinations in Bahamas, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, and Peru.
Passengers from destinations such as Beirut, Doha, Riyadh, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Cebu, Singapore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, as well as Colombo and Karachi will experience connection times of less than four hours while in Dubai.
Emirates’ new route will also serve the South Florida area, including Miami and West Palm Beach. Just a 30 minute drive away, Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the US and its metropolitan area is the eighth-largest in the US with a population of 5.5mn people.
Emirates has been serving the US since 2004 and currently operates 119 passenger flights per week between Dubai and the US. Since 2004, the airline has carried more than 16.1mn passengers on its US flights and 740,000 tonnes of high value goods between the US and Dubai.