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Emirates to go Double-Daily from Stansted

Emirates has announced it is introducing a second daily service from Dubai to London/Stansted. The new rotation is due to begin on July 1, and will bring the total number of daily Emirates flights serving London to 11.

In line with the existing Stansted service, the second daily flight to the Essex airport will also be operated by Emirates’  Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three-class configuration with six private suites in first class, 42 fully-flat beds in business class and 306 seats in economy.

Credit: Emirates

“We are increasing capacity to London Stansted to meet steady demand from both leisure and business travellers to and from the region, as well as international student traffic to Cambridge,” commented Hubert Frach, Emirates divisional senior vice president, commercial operations west. “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 added.

As of July 1, the first daily flight from Dubai to Stansted will operate as EK65, departing Dubai at 0900hrs and arriving in London at 1330hrs. The return flight, EK66 will depart Stansted at 1500hrs and arrive in the UAE hub at 0105hrs the following day. The second daily flight will operate as EK67, departing the Middle East at 1415hrs and arriving in Stansted at 1845hrs. The return flight, EK68 will depart at 2110hrs and arrive at 0710hrs the following day.

The additional rotation will also double the daily cargo capacity offered by Emirates’ SkyCargo division to a total of 40 tonnes each way.

Ken O’ Toole, CEO of London Stansted (Credit: Stansted Airport)

“The announcement that Emirates is to double the capacity on its Dubai service is fantastic news for passengers and is a vote of confidence in both London Stansted Airport and the East of England,” said Ken O’ Toole, CEO of London Stansted. “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,” the chief executive added.

The move marks the latest investment in the UK by Emirates, following on from inaugural flights to Stansted and Edinburgh in 2018. With this second daily flight, the airline will fly 140 weekly flights to and from the UK: six services a day from Heathrow, three daily from Gatwick and Manchester, two daily from Birmingham, Glasgow and London Stansted, and a daily service from Newcastle and Edinburgh.

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Fallout Continues After Primera Air Collapse

The sudden demise of budget carrier Primera Air is continuing to cause travel misery for thousands of the airline’s customers. The Danish-registered company (formed of both Primera Air Nordic and Primera Air Scandinavia) announced it was ceasing all operations at midnight on Monday after 14 years of operations, leaving some passengers and crew stranded overseas.

The company was in the middle of an ambitious transatlantic expansion programme, announcing a wealth of new routes from London/Stansted, Brussels and Madrid to destinations across the eastern US and Canada, with one-way fares from £99. Services to Washington/Dulles and Newark due to leave London/Stansted on Monday evening were grounded and passengers for later departures were instructed not to go to the airport.

Management at the airline, which operated a fleet of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, had earlier cited delays in deliveries of the A321neo for the abrupt termination of services from Birmingham. The carrier was also due to receive A321LR and 737 MAX examples beginning in 2019 to support its aggressive intra-Europe and long-haul growth plans.

A holding message on the airline’s website read: “Airline Primera Air and IATA codes PF and 6F have been suspended as of today, October 2, 2018. On behalf of [the] Primera Air team, we would like to thank you for your loyalty. On this sad day we are saying goodbye to all of you.”

Airports including London/Stansted are understood to be reviewing options to recoup any unpaid bills by the carrier – including the possible seizing of aircraft.