Emirates boosts Paris flights

Dubai's Emirates Airline is to boost its weekly scheduled flights to Paris by more than a third by the end of 2012.

Emirates will add a further four flights a week to Charles de Gaulle airport from March 25, in addition to its existing double-daily schedule.

Emirates said it would increase this to five additional weekly flights in the northern winter of 2012, in response to a rise in demand from passengers.

'Demand to and from France, particularly from business travellers, is such that a third frequency has always been an objective for Emirates,' said Salem Obaidalla, senior vice president of commercial operations for Europe and the Russian Federation.

A deal signed by UAE and French aviation authorities in January gave flagship airlines Etihad, Emirates and Air Arabia the right to add a combined 22 weekly flights to France.

The countries also agreed to add Bordeaux as the sixth destination for UAE airlines, alongside Paris, Nice, Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse.