Emirates' Boeing 777s with new suites will be used on the Stanstead route. Photo / Supplied
Emirates' Boeing 777s with new suites will be used on the Stanstead route. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand travellers will be able to fly to another London gateway on Emirates when the airline starts services to Stansted next year.
The daily flights will connect at Dubai with Emirates' daily Auckland and Christchurch services in both directions.
The airline says Emirates will be the first Middle Easternairline to operate to Stanstead, northeast of London.
Stanstead will be the seventh airport that Emirates operates into Britain – the others are London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow.
The daily route will be operated by the airline's new three-class Boeing 777-300ER offering customers six suites in first class, 42 seats in business class and 306 in economy class.
The aircraft is fitted with new fully enclosed private suites in first class, as well as refreshed business and economy class cabins.
Opening the London Stansted gateway was a strategic decision by Emirates to serve the thriving business community in London's northeast and the wider 7.5 million people who fall within its catchment area.
More than 25 of the world's largest corporations have established operations in the wider Cambridge and Peterborough area, with Airbus, Astra Zeneca and GSK amongst the multi-national companies based there.
London Stansted Airport is one of the capital's major airports serving London, as well as the wider regions of England's South East and the Midlands.
The airport is connected to London via the Stansted Express which operates a regular daily service to London Liverpool Street Station. The train takes about 47 minutes and passengers arrive in the heart of the City of London.
Nearly 26 million passengers pass through Stanstead every year — seven million more than the total using Auckland Airport.
Emirates will in March scale back to daily non-stop flights from Auckland to Dubai, although it is maintaining daily flights via Australia to Dubai.
President of Emirates Sir Tim Clark, said there was a clear demand for this service from both business and leisure travellers.
''We look forward to facilitating even more tourism and commerce opportunities to and from London with these new air transport links, and to providing our customers with the award-winning Emirates experience."
Stansted airport would also be vital for Emirates' SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates because of its large cargo handling capabilities.
