Dubai-based carrier Emirates Airline will begin flying to the Netherlands from 1 May next year.

The daily flight to Amsterdam will be the airline’s twenty-third route into Europe.

Emirates has opened a number of new routes this year despite the downturn in global air traffic. Middle East carriers recorded a 14.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic in the year to the end of October, the fastest growth from any region in the world (MEED 30:11:09).

In late November, Emirates announced that it was also increasing its flights to Middle East destinations to 201 after adding more flights on its Amman and Doha routes.

The airline also recently announced that it will start operating flights to Tokyo from 28 March 2010.

The carrier also has plans to add a further 17 flights to destinations in the Asia Pacific region in December and early 2010 (MEED 25:11:09).