Emirates (EK, Dubai International) will launch Dubai International-London Stansted flights on June 4, 2018, becoming the first passenger carrier to connect this airport to the Middle East.

The Dubai-based carrier said in a statement that it hopes to attract business passengers employed by multi-national companies from the technology and pharmaceutical industries operating in the so-called London Stansted Cambridge Corridor. According to the airline, it already sees a high volume of traffic from this region connecting via Dubai to Mumbai International, Hong Kong International, Shanghai Pudong and Singapore Changi, as well as direct traffic to Dubai.

The 7x weekly service to Stansted will be operated with a three-class B777-300(ER). It will supplement the existing 44 weekly flights to London Heathrow and 22 weekly flights to London Gatwick.

London Stansted has traditionally been an LCC airport. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Ryanair is still the dominant operator at the airport, serving 912 weekly departures, 71.3% of all. British Airways operates 5 weekly departures out of Stansted. While both Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways operate cargo flights out of Stansted, serving 16 and one weekly departure respectively, they do not fly directly to their bases at Doha Hamad International and Abu Dhabi International.