Business & Finance Club - Dubai : Emirates, the Dubai based international carrier, announced the launch of second daily flights to Los Angeles and Houston. The airline, will soon offer over 15,000 seats on 98 return flights per week to the United States.

Starting 31st October for Los Angeles and 1st November for Houston, Emirates will fly nonstop to both cities twice a day on Boeing 777 aircraft.

In a statement to the press, Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline said: "We are delighted to meet this increased demand with the start of second daily services to both Houston and Los Angeles."

Mr Clark continued: "The additional services will provide customers in the Middle East and Asia with even easier access to the largest cities in Texas and California, supporting the burgeoning business and leisure traffic between these markets and the United States."

Emirates' services play a significant role in supporting trade and tourism between the UAE and America. Key imports from the United States include machinery, computer and electronic products, primary metal manufacturing, chemicals and transport equipment.

Over 750 US firms have set up offices in Dubai and 400,000 American business and leisure travellers visited the Emirate last year, a 23 per cent increase from 2007-08. Home of the United States' second largest exporter, Texas is a strategically important trade hub and a key centre of the nation's oil industry. In 2009, Texan exports to the UAE reached over $1.7 billion representing export growth of over 192 percent since 2002.

California is the third largest US exporter to the UAE. Exports from California totalled $1.2billion in 2009 an increase of 338 percent since 2002.

Emirates currently flies nonstop to four US cities: New York, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The airline will reinstate its flagship A380 aircraft on one of its double daily JFK services from 31st October.

Emirates was the first carrier to launch non stop operations from Dubai to both Houston and Los Angeles.

The additional US services come during a busy summer for the airline. Aside from the Boeing 777 order, FIFA World Cup sponsorship and new destination launches, Emirates further expanded its fleet with an order for 32 additional A380s at the Berlin Air Show in June.