Dubai’s Emirates Airline today launched its inaugural non-stop, daily service from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The service to the south-east Asia metropolis is the Dubai carrier’s eighth new route this year and will be served by an Airbus 330-200, with 27 business class seats and 251 economy class seats. “Through Emirates’ non-stop, daily service, Vietnam is now connected via one-stop in our Dubai hub to our global network, which includes 31 destinations in Europe, 22 in Africa, 16 in the Middle East, 11 in north and south America and 19 in the west Asia and Indian Ocean region,\" said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice president of passenger sales worldwide. \"We also look forward to opening up a wealth of opportunities in Vietnam for business and leisure travellers from the six continents that our passengers join our flights from,\" he added. The new service could help boost trade between the UAE and Vietnam, which was around US$1.2bn last year. The launch takes Emirates’ total tally of routes to 124 destinations in 74 countries. Over the next three months, the airline will launch a further three destinations: Barcelona, Lisbon and Washington, DC. By Arabian Business