Emirates To Return To London Stansted

Credit: London Stansted Airport

Emirates Airline will resume service to London Stansted (STN) from Aug. 1, restoring service to the third and final London airport which the carrier was flying to pre-pandemic.

Flights between Dubai (DXB) and STN will be served 5X-weekly, rising to daily from Sept. 1. The DXB-STN route, which has been grounded since March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be operated with a Boeing 777-300ER.

Emirates resumed flying to London Gatwick (LGW) and London Heathrow (LHR) last year. The DXB-LGW route is operated 2X-daily with an Airbus A380 aircraft, while LHR is served 6X-daily by the airline.

“Stansted is a key hub for Emirates in the east and southeast of the UK and resuming operations will offer better connectivity to businesses and communities in the region while also boosting the UK economy through scaled up inbound travel and additional cargo capacity,” Emirates divisional VP for the UK Richard Jewsbury said in a statement. “The UK is Emirates’ most important international market and bookings have continued to surge with the further easing of travel restrictions.”

STN MD Steve Griffiths added: “The route is of huge importance to London and the east of England, providing a vital link between [STN and DXB] and beyond, thanks to the airline's extensive onward network.”

By October 2022, Emirates will operate 110 weekly flights to the UK from DXB. In addition to the London flights, it will operate 2X-daily service to Birmingham (BHX), daily service to Glasgow (GLA)), 3X-daily flights to Manchester (MAN) and 5X-weekly service to Newcastle (NCL).

Emirates also continues to rebuild its global network. Services on the horizon include the restart of flights from DXB to Bali (DPS) in Indonesia. The route will be operated 5X-weekly from May 1, rising to daily from July 1.

The carrier also plans to double frequencies on the DXB-Singapore (SIN) route from 7X-weekly to 14X-weekly from July 23.

Aaron Karp

Aaron Karp is a Contributing Editor to the Aviation Week Network.