Flights from Stansted Airport to Dubai have proved so popular the airline is set to double its capacity with a second daily service.
Emirates’ announcement of the new service, starting from July 1, has been welcomed by airport bosses as a “vote of confidence” in the airport and in the East of England region, opening up tourism and trade opportunities.
Ken O’Toole, chief executive of London Stansted, said it was “fantastic news” for passengers.
“Since day one this route has been extremely popular with passengers flying direct to Dubai but also taking advantage of the 150 onward connections available from the hub and today’s announcement is further evidence of the rising demand that exists for more long-haul services from Stansted.”
MORE – Young female high-fliers encouraged into aviation careersThe new service brings the total daily Emirates flights from London to 11. Both flights to Stansted will also be operated by Emirates’ ‘game changing’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, with three classes of tickets and six private suites in first class. Business class includes 42 fully-flat beds, with 306 seat in economy class.
Divisional senior vice-president Hubert Frach said the capacity increase, which follows the launch of the service in June last year, is to meet “steady demand” from both leisure and business travellers to and from the region, as well as international student traffic to Cambridge.
“We continuously seek ways to maximise convenience and flexibility for our customers and the second daily flight combined with the optimal travel schedules will do exactly that; provide a seamless travel experience with Emirates,” he said.
The second daily flight could also boost tourism in the East of England, enabling further trade and economic growth. Popular inbound markets include Australia, UAE, India, South Africa, China, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Customers travelling from Stansted will also have more access to destinations across the airline’s global network. Popular destinations for UK travellers such as Brisbane, Melbourne, Male, Seychelles, Bali, Singapore, Colombo, Bangalore and Bangkok all fall within an approximate connection time of two and half hours.
The additional Dubai-Stansted flight will also double the daily cargo capacity to a total of 40 tonnes each way.
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