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Image Credit: AP

Dubai: Travellers from Dubai to Indonesia and New Zealand will get to enjoy more flight options, with the launch of a new service operated by Emirates.

The Dubai-based airline announced on Monday that it will start this summer a new daily service to Auckland, New Zealand via Bali, in response to strong travel demand to both destinations.

Commencing on June 14, 2018, the new service will offer travellers a total of three daily services to New Zealand. It will complement the existing non-stop daily service between Dubai and Auckland and daily A380 service between Dubai and Christchurch via Sydney.

According to Emirates, the new service will boost Bali’s global connectivity and stimulate the island’s economic and tourism growth.

A popular tourist destination, Bali welcomed 4.5 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2016, including more than 40,500 travellers from New Zealand. The number of visitors from the Middle East to Bali also reached more than 48,000 in 2016, up by more than 59 per cent from a year earlier.

With the new service, travellers will also enjoy a choice of three daily flights between Dubai to Bali in the summer, as it adds to Emirates’ two existing daily services which are currently operated by a Boeing 777 300-ER in a two-class configuration.

Aside from providing flyers a chance to make a stopover in Bali, the new service will also offer connections to/from London and other major cities in Europe.

Flight details

The outgoing flight, EK 450, will leave Dubai at 6.55 am and arrive in Denpasar (Bali) at 8.20pm local time, before proceeding to Auckland at 10pm. The flight will arrive in New Zealand’s biggest city at 10am, the next day.

On return, the flight (EK 451) will leave Auckland at 12.40pm and make a stopover in Denpasar at 5.55 pm, local time, before proceeding to Dubai at 7.50pm. It will arrive in Dubai just after midnight at 12.45am, allowing passengers to connect to other flights.