A 428-seat Boeing 777-300ER, the longest aircraft to ever operate from Newcastle, will replace a 278-seat Airbus A330-200 on the route — a capacity increase of more than 50 percent.
The upgrade comes on the fifth anniversary of the route’s launch. Since Sept. 1, 2007, almost 700,000 passengers have traveled with Emirates to and from the Northeast.
“Our Newcastle service has come of age and with demand continuing to increase, this is the right time for Emirates to be expanding its capacity from the Northeast,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ SVP, commercial operations, Europe & Russian Federation. “With the introduction of this larger aircraft, we will offer almost 6,000 seats every week to and from Newcastle. Since we commenced services, more than 175,000 overseas passengers have traveled with Emirates to Newcastle from across our global network, boosting tourism and business in the North East,” Obaidalla added.
Emirates’ key destinations for Northeast travelers include Dubai, Bangkok, Sydney, Perth, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Mauritius.
The Boeing 777-300ER is the backbone of the Emirates fleet, with 65 in service and a further 86 on order. The airline will offer a two-class configuration with a choice of 42 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 386 seat in Economy Class.
Throughout the aircraft, passengers will be able to experience the airline’s award-winning ice in-flight entertainment system with a choice of over 600 channels on-demand.
Since the route was launched, Emirates has carried more than 10 million kilos of cargo on its Newcastle service, helping companies across the region to export their goods across the globe.
