Emirates adds seat capacity to Manchester

DUBAI, U.A.E., 25th October 2009 - Emirates is extending its seating capacity out of Manchester in the UK - but not with aircraft - with sumptuous leather armchairs in its newest dedicated airport lounge.
The 147-seat facility at Manchester International Airport is the latest push by the Dubai-based airline to provide exclusive lounges for premium passengers at key airports across its network.
Mohammed Mattar, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President Airport Services, who attended the official opening ceremony on Thursday, said: “We’ve invested more than a quarter of a billion dirhams on fantastic lounges across the world – these sanctuaries really provide that home from home feeling that is so important to our passengers.

Coupled with Emirates Chauffeur Drive, dedicated check-in counters and priority baggage handling, the Emirates Lounge is central to our seamless premium product."

The 9,429 square foot Manchester lounge first opened its doors to passengers on October 1st, and has already received rave reviews from premium travellers.

The Emirates Lounge has floor-to-ceilings windows, offering passengers spectacular views across the airport’s runways. Passengers using it can enjoy an extensive menu of complimentary hot and cold gourmet dishes, accompanied by a full bar service, as well as Emirates’ trademark attentive service from its dedicated lounge staff.

The lounge also features a business centre, with computer workstations and laptop workstations, each with complimentary broadband and wireless LAN access.

Seating is provided for 147 passengers, with a large number of luxury leather armchairs available and a plasma screen showing the latest news and lifestyle programmes from a selection of global channels. Full shower facilities are also on hand.

Andrew Cornish, Managing Director of Manchester Airport, who also attended Thursday's opening event, said: “Emirates is very important to the future development of Manchester so I’m delighted to be here as the lounge opens. One of the reasons behind our redesign of Terminal 1 at Manchester was to make it more focussed for our business audience and to create the type of airport environment suitable for our airlines to operate their business from for many years to come. It’s significant that we’ve seen the addition of the lounge here as part of the Emirates growing network of lounges and I know passengers travelling through will be looking forward to seeing the lounge for the first time.”

The Emirates Lounge is located in the departures area of the airport’s Terminal 1, and is open to Business Class passengers and Gold Skywards members travelling on one of its two non-stop daily flights from Manchester to Dubai and beyond.

In addition to Manchester, the airline offers dedicated lounges in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Auckland, Bangkok, Dubai, Mumbai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Munich, New York JFK, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Johannesburg, Singapore, Beijing and Zurich. More lounges are due to open in 2010 including one at Birmingham International Airport.