THE world’s largest international airline has restarted flights from an Essex airport.

Emirates Airlines have today restarted flights from London Stansted as it continues to rebuild its UK and global network in response to sustained demand for international travel.

It will be the first commercial flight the airline has flown from Stansted since March 2020, when operations were paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Emirates has also advanced plans to increase capacity from five weekly services to a daily flight, starting from today.

With the return of services to Stansted, the airline has ramped up its operations to London with nine daily flights, including six daily flights to Heathrow and a double daily flight to Gatwick.

They say the added services will meet market demand and offer customers more travel choices.

Emirates officially resumed operations with an EK065 leaving Dubai at 8.50am arriving at London Stansted at 1.30pm on Monday August 1.

Following this, an EK068 evening flight will then depart Stansted at 9.10pm and arrive at Dubai International on Tuesday August 2 at 7.10am. All times are local.

Emirates divisional vice president in the UK Richard Jewsbury said: “We are delighted to be recommencing services to and from Stansted today and offering passengers further connectivity during the popular summer holiday period.

“Bookings in the UK and London have continued to surge with the further easing of travel restrictions and as appetite for international travel grows stronger.

“Stansted is a key hub for Emirates in the east and south-east of the UK as we continue to scale up travel following the pandemic.

“We look forward to welcoming more passengers on board our premium Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the coming months.” 

London Stansted managing director Steve Griffiths added: "The return of daily flights from London Stansted to Dubai with Emirates is fantastic news for the airport and demonstrates the renewed confidence of airlines and passengers as we recover from the pandemic.

“The service proved to be extremely popular following its launch in 2018, so Emirates' timely return is a huge boost to passengers in London and the east of England, offering not only a vital link between the two destinations but right across the globe thanks to the airline's worldwide route network available via Dubai.”