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Middle Eastern airline Emirates is set to launch nonstop service from Orlando, Florida, to its hub in Dubai beginning on Sept. 1, according to Richard Bilbao of the Orlando Business Journal.
The Orlando addition marks Emirates' 10th U.S. destination, but even more importantly, makes it the first airline to offer regular service between the Persian Gulf and one of the U.S.'s top tourist destinations.
According to the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, the route signals $100 million of economic impact for Central Florida.
"This is a landmark new route for Orlando that for the first time offers our customers non-stop service to the high-growth Middle East region with convenient connections to India, China, Africa, and Southeast Asia," said Executive Director of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Phil Brown in a statement via USA Today.
Meanwhile, Emirates president Tim Clark expressed his approval by calling Orlando "one of the world's premier leisure and conference destinations, a dynamic business center and a destination which Emirates has long wished to serve."
In addition to linking a premier tourist city to the Middle East, as Bilbao points out, "it also plays as an international gateway to other parts of the world, including the Asian market that has a huge business market."
Emirates will operate one daily round-trip flight between Orlando and Dubai with a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft designed to seat 266 passengers. More than 200 of those seats will be in the coach cabin, with 42 lie-flat business class seats and eight first-class suites also available on the route.
This summer, Orlando will join Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. as U.S. cities Emirates currently operates out of.
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