Emirates resumes flights to Newcastle, adds services to Germany, the Maldives and more

The Dubai airline will fly to the English city for the first time since the route was cancelled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic

Emirates is restarting flights from Dubai to Newcastle in October, offering 77 flights to the UK by the end of that month. Photo: Unspash/Ryan Booth

After witnessing a rise in the number of travellers flying to the UK since the UAE was moved off the country's red list, Emirates is resuming flights to another city in England.

Direct flights from Dubai to Newcastle in the country's north-east will begin again on October 15, with four flights per week.

Return fares for the journey, which has a flight time of a little under eight hours, start from around Dh2,400.

Operated via a Boeing 777-300ER, flights to Newcastle will depart Dubai at 2.30pm, landing in the UK at 7.10pm. On the return leg, travellers will land back in Dubai just before 7.30am.

With the addition of this route, Emirates will be offering travellers a choice of 77 flights per week to the UK by the end of October.

This includes six flights per day to London Heathrow, five of which are operated via the A380, the world’s largest passenger jet.

It also includes double daily flights to Manchester, 10 flights per week to Birmingham and daily flights to Glasgow, Emirates only operational destination in Scotland.

Earlier in August, the UAE moved on to the UK's amber list for travel, meaning that travellers arriving in the UK from Dubai no longer need to quarantine in a government-approved hotel. The UK is not on the UAE's green list, so travellers flying to Dubai and travelling on to Abu Dhabi will face quarantine in the capital.

Emirates celebrated the news with a viral video that depicted a flight attendant standing on top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

A380 superjumbos for Germany flights

Emirates is also pushing forward existing plans to add extra flights and capacity to over 10 European cities, including Barcelona, Dublin, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome and Zurich.

To Germany, one of the Dubai airline's most important markets, Emirates plans to operate 50 flights a week by the end of October. This includes daily flights to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. Emirates has also announced that it will deploy its A380 superjumbos between Dusseldorf and Hamburg, allowing for more passenger capacity.

Maldives to Sri Lanka flights to restart in September

In September, Emirates will restart its popular Male to Colombo route. The service is scheduled for Wednesday, September 1 and should help boost tourism in both the Maldives and Sri Lanka as the country gears up to welcome tourists again.

With Maldives an ever-popular destination for UAE travellers, Emirates will up capacity to four flights per day between Dubai and Male from mid-October.

The airline is also adding flights to Muscat, with four weekly flights to the Omani capital from Dubai starting this Saturday, and to Brazil's Sao Paulo, which will have a daily service from Tuesday, October 5.

Emirates says it has resumed passenger services to over 120 destinations and is operating almost 90 per cent of its pre-pandemic network.