Emirates has become the first airline to offer longhaul services out of Newcastle Airport. The Dubai-based airline launched daily flights services to it home base last Saturday (1 September).
The new route, between Newcastle and Dubai, is the airline's sixth UK gateway and its 22nd destination in Europe. Flight time is around 7.5hrs.
The service will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with 27 business class seats and a further 251 in economy. Emirates SkyCargo will offer 13 tonnes of cargo capacity in each direction.
Emirates says that the operation will open up a host of opportunities for the whole of the north-west in bypassing Amsterdam, Heathrow and Paris, all favoured connecting airports for points on the Indian sub-continent, the Far East and the Antipodes.
Emirates senior vice-president (commercial operations) Europe, Keith Longstaff, spoke at a press conference soon after the first inbound aircraft touched down. "Already, the route is receiving tremendous support and records have been broken with pre-launch sales. Never before in the UK has Emirates sold out so quickly on the first two flights of a new service and thousands are already booked from Newcastle to far flung places throughout the Emirates network."
He said that ticket sales for September showed Emirates' passengers out of Newcastle heading to no less than 26 different destinations through Dubai, including Sydney, Beijing, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Auckland, Islamabad, Delhi and Johannesburg.
Newcastle International Airport's chief operating officer, David Laws was enthusiastic: "The arrival of Emirates to Newcastle International is, without question, the most significant new route development in the airport's 72-year history.
”This achievement is a major coup not just for the airport, but for north-east England as a whole. Dubai's importance as a major global hub, trading city and tourist destination continues to grow, and the Emirates service also provides crucial onward connections to dozens of major hub airports across the world."
As part of its promotion at the airport Emirates has become the sponsor of Newcastle's new air traffic control tower. The ”8.2m ($16.4m) landmark development stands at twice the height of the Angel of the North and replaces the previous tower which served the airport for 40 years. The UK's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has installed the latest systems making it one of the most technologically advanced control towers in the UK.