Emirates Airline is set to put up a good show at ITB Berlin, world's largest travel trade show, with announcement of more aircraft, more flights, new lounges and new recruits.

Emirates Holidays, Emirates Hotels & Resorts, Arabian Adventures, Congress Solutions International, Skywards and Network Passenger Sales Development will all be present in Emirates' Globe stand at the expo which runs upto March 14, said the statement from the Dubai carrier.

Going into ITB 2010, Emirates' fleet of modern aircraft has grown from 131 to 145, while the number of A380s received has doubled from four to eight compared to last year, it said.

Two new destinations are up and running; Durban and Luanda, while Tokyo, Amsterdam, Prague, Madrid and Dakar will start up throughout 2010, it added.

Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, said, "We are looking forward to supporting ITB again this year and are pleased to be able to report so many new developments. These continue to be testing times, making our fresh initiatives and ongoing growth even more noteworthy."

"From 981 departures per week in March 2009, the airline is now dispatching 1107 passenger flights per week out of Dubai, supporting the new routes and additional frequencies on existing routes such as Johannesburg, Athens, Rome, Amman, Male, Trivandrum, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney. Overall seat capacity has risen by around 16 per cent," he said.

"More aircraft and flights mean more staff. Around 660 cabin crew and more than 60 pilots have been recruited by the Dubai-based carrier since March 2009. It is expected that a further 2000 cabin crew will be hired this year," he added.

In the past 12 months, premium passengers have been granted more retreats to relax, shower and dine ahead of their flights. Six Emirates' lounges have opened in Beijing, Mumbai, Johannesburg, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Manchester. Lounge investment to date is cruising above Dh266 million ($72 million), the airline said.

Shortly before ITB 2009, Emirates reported that its in-flight mobile phone service had clocked up its 100,000th user. That figure has now skyrocketed to more than 1.7 million, it added.

A total of 69 aircraft are now AeroMobile-enabled, allowing passengers to use their own mobile phones, up from 31 aircraft a year ago.

In all, 200 flights a day throughout 55 countries are now mobile-equipped, rising from 50 flights a day and 42 countries a year ago. Each month, over 140,000 sms texts are sent to/from aircraft by passengers.

According to Clark, the company's resort portfolio has also expanded. "In October, Emirates unveiled the much-awaited conservation-based project, the Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, near Sydney. It has since become the first hotel in the world to achieve carbon neutral certification under an internationally recognised scheme," he noted.

In November, the carrier registered half year profits of Dh752 million ($205 million) surging 165 per cent over the previous year - and on the back of an 18 per cent increase in passengers.

"People often ask how we do it - how we keep making these huge commitments to our customers, to sports and to the travel and tourism industry in general? Well, the answer is: we stay focused, we invest in our brand, we closely watch our costs and with the extremely hard work of more than 40,000 staff, we remain committed to our carefully planned long-term expansion," Clark remarked.-TradeArabia News Service