Dubai, UAE: Emirates this week announced it will launch a new daily service from Dubai to Montréal, starting 5 July. Montréal becomes Emirates’ second gateway in Canada, complementing its passenger services to Toronto, which has been operating to Ontario’s capital city since 2007.
The launch of services to Montréal comes as the UAE and Canada aim to deepen economic cooperation between the two nations and stimulate benefits to the aviation and tourism sectors, in addition to enhancing trade flows and commercial links. The daily flights to the new destination will help cater to the huge demand for direct flights between Dubai and Canada, particularly to its two largest metropolitan hubs, and provide more choices for travellers when flying to Canada.
Passengers from Montréal can enjoy the airline’s award-winning services to and through Dubai, and connect safely, seamlessly and efficiently to Emirates’ global network of over 130 destinations in over 70 countries and territories. The daily flights between Dubai and Montréal will operate as EK243/244 with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three-class configuration, offering a premium travel experience across its cabins. Passengers can enjoy Emirates’ award-winning travel experience aboard its wide-body aircraft with 8 First Class suites, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 304 seats in Economy Class.
The flights will operate with timings as follows (all times are local):
| Dates | Flight | Departure | Arrival |
| From 5 July 2023 | EK243 (DXB/YUL) | 02:30 | 08:00 |
| EK244 (YUL/DXB) | 10:20 | 06:30 (next day) | |
| From 5 November 2023 | EK243 (DXB/YUL) | 02:30 | 07:15 |
| EK244 (YUL/DXB) | 09:30 | 06:40 (next day) | |
| From 10 March 2024 | EK243 (DXB/YUL) | 02:30 | 08:00 |
| EK244 (YUL/DXB) | 10:20 | 06:30 (next day) |
“Emirates is excited to launch our second gateway into Canada as we expand our reach in the country with direct services from our hub in Dubai. As a major metropolitan centre and as Canada’s second-largest city, we are pleased to add Montréal to our growing global network of over 130 destinations and strengthen our coverage in the Americas to reach 18 points served by our services from Dubai,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer.
“We have been serving customers with passenger and cargo services to Toronto for over 15 years and when we begin services to Montréal in July, customers will have more choice when planning their travel whether for business, leisure, education or for visiting family and friends. We would like to thank the UAE and Canadian authorities for the enhanced agreements which have made this new destination possible. With our expanded reach into the country, we look forward to facilitating new trade lanes, which will bring a host of benefits to Canadian businesses and exporters in addition to promoting tourism into more cities and generating more jobs across all sectors, including those directly serving the aviation industry,” continued Kazim.
Travelling to Emirates’ latest destination, Montréal
Located on an island in between the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa River, Montréal is the largest city in Québec and the second largest in Canada. Also known as the capital of French Canada and the nation’s cultural capital, the city is famous for its festivals and vibrant food and arts culture, while also being an important centre of commerce, tourism, and design and business hub for industries including aerospace, transport, finance, pharmaceuticals and technology, to name a few. In addition to its appeal to visitors for its unique geographical location, Montréal is also home to some of the world’s top-ranked universities, earning the city a reputation as a student-friendly and world-class study destination sought by international students.
The flight timings from Montréal will offer Canadian travellers convenient access to major leisure destinations beyond Dubai such as Thailand, Lebanon, India, Bali and French-speaking Indian Ocean destinations such as Seychelles, among others. The new service also opens a new route for convenient inbound connections to Montréal for a mix of leisure and corporate travellers and visiting family and friends from Dubai, India, Lebanon and Singapore, other South East Asian and African countries, in addition to international students pursuing higher education in the country.
Emirates has been operating to Toronto since 2007 and its flagship A380 service on the Dubai-Toronto route since 2009. From 20 April, Emirates will be serving Toronto with a daily A380 service. With the addition of Montréal to its expansive network, the airline will provide a choice of two points for travellers planning trips to and from Canada. This will also grow Emirates’ network across the Americas to two points in Canada, 12 U.S. cities, and four destinations across Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
Trade between UAE and Canada
The UAE is Canada’s largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2022, bilateral trade between Canada and the UAE exceeded C$2.6 billion, growing 53% over the last five years. According to Statistics Canada, it is estimated the UAE’s foreign direct investments stock in Canada was valued at C$1.3 billion in 2021.
Canada features in Dubai’s top 20 source markets for inbound tourism with 158,000 Canadian visitors in 2022, more than double the number in 2021.
