Emirates adds London Gatwick flights following Heathrow cap on passenger numbers
23 July, 2022
Emirates is adding more flights to London to help cope with high travel demand this summer.
Dubai's biggest airline will increase its flight schedule in and out of London Gatwick from Wednesday. Emirates will add one more daily flight to its network, taking its Dubai-Gatwick route to three services a day.
Emirates said it is “grateful for the support" from the airport in helping provide passengers with a “a smooth and reliable journey”.
The move comes following London Heathrow's cap on passenger numbers and is designed to provide extra seats for travellers affected by the new limits. Additional flights will operate to the airport until August 3. Scheduled to fly in the morning, the flight will operate via a Boeing 777 aircraft with first, business and economy class cabins. Emirates previously refused to cut capacity on flights to Europe's busiest airport saying it would impact too many customers.
“We said we can't do that and we won't do that,” said Emirates president Sir Tim Clarke, at a panel at Farnborough Airshow last week.
The airline has since agreed to stop selling tickets on flights until mid-August and is making “capacity adjustments” on London Heathrow flights in order to “help ease operational pressures at the airport”.
Travellers affected by the changes will be contacted by the airline, or the travel agent they booked with, to confirm new travel plans.
The airline said it is “working closely with its travel partners to reaccommodate any affected bookings and ensure smooth onward flight connections for customers to reach their planned destination.”
Earlier this week, Gatwick airport asked passengers to be better prepared when flying. Airport bosses requested passengers pay more attention to security rules before their flights to ease disruption in its terminals.
Emirates is also moving forward with plans to restart daily services from Dubai to London Stanstead from August 1.
The airline previously announced it would operate five flights to the Essex airport each week in August, increasing the service to a daily one from September 1.
The airline continues to operate six daily flights to and from London Heathrow.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com