The UAE carrier has announced a network expansion that will include a new four times weekly service to Adelaide.

Unveiled this week, Emirates said it had added a further 15 routes to its current itinerary – one of which is its fifth Australian city following already established links to Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The carrier’s chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said the airline “is currently in a concentrated and sustained period of global expansion”, that will also see its Perth service become a triple-daily operation by March 2013.

“The addition of Adelaide to our network and the boost to our Perth operations demonstrates our commitment to investment and growth in our Australian operations and highlights the economic strength and global demand for the two cities as business, leisure and investment destinations,” the Sheikh said.

“We will also grow capacity to Melbourne with the introduction of daily A380 services in October, in addition to our existing double-decker flight into Sydney.”

The Middle-Eastern carrier said it is also looking to add the French city of Lyon to its expanding operations, along with a daily service to the Polish capital of Warsaw.

“Our increased operations into France, linking with Lyon, comes on the heels of our announcing a second A380 service into Paris from 1st January - all of which is a response to acute demand for our services to and from this market. Poland continues our exciting push into this region of Europe,” Sheikh Ahmed said.