Why don't the Gulf airlines serve Taiwan? That's a question regularly asked by Business Traveller readers.
So we have some good news for you. Dubai-based Emirates will become the first Gulf carrier to serve the Chinese island when it launches flights to Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, in February 2014.
Flights by three-class B777-300ERs will operate daily except Friday, reports airlineroute.net.
Provisional schedules call for flight EK366 to depart Dubai between 0020 and 0425, depending on the day of the week, to arrive into Taipei between 1205 and 1615 on the same day. Return flight EK367 departs Taipei at 2315 and lands back in Dubai the following morning at 0510.
Slot restrictions are probably the reason behind the differing flight times for EK366 but Emirates will be working hard behind the scenes to solve this issue. So there could be some schedule changes before next February's launch date.
Taipei is not an easy place for European travellers to reach. Taiwan's China Airlines and Eva Air operate from just a handful of cities while Cathay Pacific — which offers the best connections over Hong Kong — has a limited European network too.
KLM is the only European carrier to serve Taipei after Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss all failed in previous years (see Route of the month, April 2012).
By contrast, Emirates' comprehensive European network means that travellers based between Scandinavia in the north, Italy and Greece in the south, Ireland and Portugal in the west and Poland and Russia in the east, can all access Taipei via Dubai.
In addition, there will be connecting opportunities between Africa, Taipei and vice versa thanks to Emiratess growing network in that continent.
History shows that once one Gulf carrier serves a destination the others (namely Etihad and Qatar Airways) invariably follow. So expect this to be the case with Taiwan as the Gulf carriers look for new opportunities on the global stage.
Alex McWhirter