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Emirates has announced the addition of another frequency to its Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico route from June 23rd, 2022, making it a daily service. The route is popular for leisure travel as passengers from Spain and Mexico don’t need visas to enter the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Travelers from both countries can further connect to the rest of the Middle East or even Asia via Emirates’ hub in Dubai and take full advantage of the airline’s strong global network.

The details

The UAE carrier currently flies the Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico fifth freedom route six times a week, except Thursdays. From June 23rd, a seventh flight will be added to the schedule, making this route a daily service. Flight EK 255 will depart Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 03:25 AM and arrive at Barcelona’s Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) at 08:35 AM. After spending just over two hours on the ground, the plane will take to the skies again at 10:50 AM and complete the transatlantic journey for a 16:05 arrival at Mexico City International Airport (MEX)

The return flight will be operated as flight EK 256, departing MEX at 19:40 for an early afternoon arrival into BSN the next day at 13:45. For the final leg of the journey, EK 256 will take off from BSN at 15:30 and touchdown at DXB just after midnight on the second day.

Emirates is using its Boeing 777-200LR aircraft for this fifth freedom route. These planes are outfitted in a two-class configuration with 38 business class seats up-front in a 2-2-2 layout followed by 264 economy seats.

Opportunities for connections on both ends

The DXB-BCN-MEX fifth freedom route is carefully crafted by Emirates. In Mexico, the carrier has partnered up with Aeromar, a regional airline with a fleet of ATR aircraft. This partnership allows Emirates’ customers to connect to other domestic destinations in Mexico without any hassle.

Similarly, passengers coming to Dubai from Mexico City or Barcelona will have access to the Middle Eastern carrier’s massive global network. The possibilities are virtually endless, with flights available to pretty much every major airport in the Middle East and Asia.

Daily Mexico flights are finally a reality

Emirates has been trying to gain operational clearance to operate daily fifth freedom flights on this route for quite some time now. Despite gaining approval from all relevant Mexican authorities early in 2019, the middle eastern carrier’s plans were blocked by a Mexican court in October of the same year. Nonetheless, Emirates finally got the go-ahead from the Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transport a month later in November. The carrier did not waste any time and launched flights on the route from December 9th, 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic did hamper the carrier’s ambitious plans and led to a temporary suspension of this route. But, the airline resumed it in July 2021 and has been expanding services steadily ever since.

What do you make of Emirates adding a seventh frequency to the DXB-BCN-MEX fifth freedom route? Please, let us know your thoughts in the comments.