Emirates already has a massive presence in London. As of now they they fly 6x daily from Dubai to London Heathrow, and 3x daily from Dubai to London Gatwick. The craziest part? All of those flights are operated by A380s.
Emirates has now announced a route to a third London airport, and this one is operated by a 777-300ER with their new first class.
As of June 8, 2018, Emirates will fly daily between Dubai and London Stansted with the following schedule:
EK33 Dubai to London Stansted departing 9:30AM arriving 2:10PM
EK34 London Stansted to Dubai departing 9:10PM arriving 7:05AM (+1 day)
It’s interesting that the plane will have a ground time of seven hours in London, as they could just as easily turn it in two hours, but of course Emirates is all about optimizing connections. I guess the plane couldn’t make it back to Dubai in time for the 3AM bank of flights, so they figure they might as well have it arrive with the next bank.
As mentioned above, the flight will be operated by a 777-300ER. This will be Emirates’ only flight to London not operated by an A380, and will also be their only flight to London featuring their new first class. The 777-300ER is configured with six first class seats, 42 business class seats, and 306 economy seats.
In the press release, Emirates explains that choosing London Stansted was a strategic decision to capture the business community in London’s northeast, and the population of 7.5 million that fall within its catchment area. As of now Stansted is an airport that’s mostly used by low cost carriers. You may recognize the airport from the below song. 😉
This new flight is now for sale. While I’m seeing plenty of business class award availability, I’m not seeing any first class award availability, which isn’t surprising, as they seem to be blocking that for their new first class.
Bottom line
Emirates has mastered the game of scaling their network unlike any other airline, so to see 10x daily flights between Dubai and London is a bit insane. However, I’m a bit disappointed that this route will be getting Emirates’ new first class. Their new first class looks incredible, but it’s sort of a gimmick since they’re not reconfiguring any existing planes with it yet.
By the end of 2019 (over two years from now), the airline plans to have only nine 777s with the new first class product. As of now they fly these 777s to Brussels and Geneva, and this rotation will take up a whole plane. So I’m just a bit disappointed that Emirates continues to use these planes for 6-8 hour flights, rather than for ultra longhaul flights, where the product can really be enjoyed.
What do you make of Emirates’ decision to fly a 777 with their new first class to Stansted?
Well I flew with them out of Stansted last week, 9 July. Live near Epping so the ride to the Airport is 20 minutes, compared with having to allow at leat 2 or 3hours in case the M25 is blocked, going to Heathrow. That is a BIG plus.
The downside is the rest of it. It took an hour to get through security at about 6.30 pm. Only a third of the security gates were...
Well I flew with them out of Stansted last week, 9 July. Live near Epping so the ride to the Airport is 20 minutes, compared with having to allow at leat 2 or 3hours in case the M25 is blocked, going to Heathrow. That is a BIG plus.
The downside is the rest of it. It took an hour to get through security at about 6.30 pm. Only a third of the security gates were operational and they were opening practically every bag. It was horrendous in the 30 degree hot weather.
After Security you are “forced” to walk through acres of duty free shops. I was going to Thailand and stopped at the currency exchange to see how much they were offering. 29 Baht per GBP. The correct rate which I got on arrival in Bangkok was 44. An absolute rip off of the first order.
Next I proceeded to the gate to see what Emirates had laid on. Nothing. Just like being herded onto Ryanair. And the flight was full, so 300+ passengers at the gate which normally handles 180 with Ryanair.
Furthermore there was no fast track for business class and I didn’t see a lounge anywhere either. It didn’t worry me too much as I was flying Econony on this leg but was Business from Dubai onwards.
So I need to judge whether all this hassle is worth it to save a few hours on the motorway. Not sure at the moment.
So much hate for Stansted. Flown out of there countless times and find it a decent airport. Heathrow is rammed to capacity, Gatwick is ok but isn't convenient for people who live north of London with the M25! The area around Stansted is rapidly growing, Cambridge has its science and tech firms, there's the financial district of London under an hour away . So cant see why Stansted is dismissed like it is? Good for...
So much hate for Stansted. Flown out of there countless times and find it a decent airport. Heathrow is rammed to capacity, Gatwick is ok but isn't convenient for people who live north of London with the M25! The area around Stansted is rapidly growing, Cambridge has its science and tech firms, there's the financial district of London under an hour away . So cant see why Stansted is dismissed like it is? Good for Emirates, and hope other carriers follow suit, Maybe its just the fact it is in Essex or Ryanair and easy jet use the airport... people are being stereotypical snobs!
@Dylan, MaxJet used the old SAS lounge at the end of Satellite One and their flights departed from the gates next to it. Im not sure what’s happened to it now. I’m sure Emirates will have something in the pipeline for a lounge of their own.
I'm also intrigued what Emirates will do for a lounge. If they throw in curry club at the Wetherspoons, then I'm sold!
@No Name, MaxJet never really had a proper lounge so much as a closed off area near their gate. It was quickly removed when MaxJet ceased operations.
mlcol.
Hey, if the shoe fits . . .
"will also be their own flight to London featuring their new first class." do you mean "only"?
@ n -- I do, thank you. Fixed.
It would be very interesting if this triggered BA to start flying from Stansted, which is my local airport. Right now BA has an Astra Zeneca-only flight CBG-MAN-GOT-CBG, but scheduled BA fights from STN would be so useful as I always end up having to use budget carriers.
@K4 And I, someone who has used Stansted around 30 times, can solidly confirm Stansted is a perfectly adequate airport.
It's much the same as any other normal airport and quite frankly, the people who incessantly whine about it are merely boring snobs.
@mkcol And I, living in West London, can solidly confirm, Stansted, and Essex for that matter is the pits.
If you have to be outside of the A406/205 then Surrey and perhaps parts of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire are ok.
Even then, that’s stretching it. Whilst Surrey maintains its dignity, other than the Marlow area in Bucks. and the Windsor (and south of Windsor ie Ascot and Sunningdale) area in Berks. the rest of those counties are also pushing it.
@K4 Your response & the earlier one from Martin shows perfectly just how anachronistic you are.
mkcol,
Let's just say that Stansted is the perfect airport for the Essex guys with their sheepskin coats and gold rings, and the Essex girls with their big hair and fake nails.
Essex is the New Jersey of England.
@Martin I'm British & quite perfectly aware of the moronic, pathetic, inaccurate & outdated stereotypes of Essex-dwellers peddled by tiresome individuals like yourself.
Change the record.
Why on earth are you "a bit disappointed that this route will be getting Emirates’ new first class"?
Do you think the people of Essex only deserve their hideous, blingy 2nd-rate First to match with their stereotypes?
Stansted is an appalling airport.
@Third Passport
What happened to the old Maxjet lounge? 48 premium seats are less than half the seats Maxjet had on their all J B767, have seen mentions of of the lounge having a 200 seat capacity.
I live in Essex and always use Stansted. For me to have Emirates from Stansted means mo more driving to Heathrow or Gatwick, I used to fly Qatar Airways but in this case I will go back to Emirates just to eliminate long drive to Heathrow or Gatwick.
"Emirates has mastered the game of scaling their network unlike any other airline"
Have they? They're one of the least profitable airlines among carriers of similar size... I guess profitability is not necessarily a requirement for scaling your network, but for most carriers it would be...
I sincerely hope that Emirates will be getting their own little terminal building. Something like First Class Terminal Lufthansa has in Frankfurt or at least, minimum a separate gangway like the new access BA installed at LHR. I mean which premium class passenger would want to use the same security lanes as people who travel on cattle carriers Easyjet and Ryanair.
It'll be interesting to see what they will offer premium passengers in terms of lounge access, fast track security, etc. STN is not a very "premium" airport.
I'm waiting until Emirates starts A380 flights to London City Airport
(LCY) that way Canary Warf will have better access to business travelers
Emirates must be biding time until Crossrail fully opens. At that point, a premium long-haul service out of Stanstead will have little value to the business traveller.
It's a really interesting decision.
Stansted is the perfect airport for Cambridge and East Anglia; Cambridge and Norwich are two of the main high-tech areas in the UK (Cambridge for IT and medical, Norwich for bio-agriculture plus a reasonably strong financial services sector). Direct trains from Stansted to London terminate at Liverpool Street Station, in the heart of The City (financial services again). And unlike Heathrow, Stansted has decent railway links from the not-London side...
It's a really interesting decision.
Stansted is the perfect airport for Cambridge and East Anglia; Cambridge and Norwich are two of the main high-tech areas in the UK (Cambridge for IT and medical, Norwich for bio-agriculture plus a reasonably strong financial services sector). Direct trains from Stansted to London terminate at Liverpool Street Station, in the heart of The City (financial services again). And unlike Heathrow, Stansted has decent railway links from the not-London side (Cambridge, Peterborough & The Midlands, Norwich).
The new 1st class looks great. But that business class - absolutely God-awful. Emirates is competing for my business with Qsuites from LHR; why on earth would I abandon Qatar for that Emirates mess?
PS: Fascinating Aida - fabulously funny group.
It's always been a bit of a tragedy that Stansted - the first design of the "new generation" of mega-airport airy terminals - never saw much development of longhaul flights; instead it's become budget airline central.
Are those middle seats worth the money?
That song. LOL.
I did not realize the foot cubby in new J was offset !
That new Business Class is hideous.