Dubai low-cost airline flydubai touched down at the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg today (August 7) becoming the first UAE carrier to operate direct flights to the European city of Basel, in northwest Switzerland, close to the country’s borders with France and Germany.

 

This marks the start of the carrier’s four-times weekly service to EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL) from Dubai International (DXB).

 

With the start of flights to Basel, flydubai has now grown its network in Europe to 29 destinations including Budapest, Catania, Krakow, Milan-Bergamo, Prague, Salzburg and Zagreb.

 

On landing the inaugural flight was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute. Senior airport officials welcomed the delegation led by Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai.

 

Speaking at the press conference, Efendii said: "At flydubai, we are committed to opening up underserved destinations and creating free flows of trade and tourism and we are pleased to add Basel to our network in Europe. BSL serves Switzerland, France and Germany, making it an important hub for travel, trade and tourism in the tri-border region that will benefit our customers from the UAE and beyond."

 

Located on the banks of the river Rhine, Basel is renowned as Switzerland’s cultural capital and features interesting museums and historic and modern architecture and serves as a gateway to the verdant landscapes of the Swiss countryside.

 

Situated on the borders of northwest Switzerland, the Alsace historical region in France and Baden-Württemberg in Germany, EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg serves as a unique gateway to three different countries.

 

"We also look forward to welcoming more travellers from Europe to Dubai and beyond on the flydubai network. Through Dubai’s aviation hub, passengers travelling from Basel can enjoy convenient connections to holiday destinations including Kenya, the Maldives, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand," added Efendi.

 

Welcoming the debut flight, EuroAirport’s Managing Director Matthias Suhr said: "We are proud that with regular direct flights to Dubai, the UAE is now even easier to reach from EuroAirport, which meets the growing demand for travel to this region and strengthens our role in ensuring connectivity of our trinational region."

 

The leading Dubai budget carrier said flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Terminal 3, Dubai International (DXB). Emirates will codeshare on this route, offering passengers more options for connections through Dubai’s international aviation hub.

 

As a special offer, the airline has set the return Business Class fares from DXB to BSL at AED13,000 ($3,539) onwards and economy class Lite fares from AED1,500 ($408) onwards, while that from BSL to DXB has been set at CHF3,325 ($3,839) and CHF500 ($577) onwards.-TradeArabia News Service