LONDON: The London airport best known for budget travel is targeting the big carriers of the Middle East for its next phase of growth.
A plan unveiled by Dubai-based Emirates last week to launch a new daily air service between the emirate and Stansted Airport from next June marks a breakthrough in the campaign by London’s third airport to attract more long-haul carriers.
Best known as a base for Europe’s short-haul budget airlines, Stansted will also see two low-cost carriers start trans-Atlantic services from the airport next year.
But the launch of Emirates’ service to Dubai will greatly extend Stansted’s global reach across the Middle and Far East and add to its appeal for business travelers, particularly those visiting the nearby Cambridge-Oxford high-tech corridor.
“It’s a really strong development for Stansted,” said air transport consultant John Strickland of JLS Consulting. “It puts them on the worldwide map with Emirates’ direct access to the Gulf, Asia and Africa. It also reflects the growing strength of Stansted’s business catchment area.”
The new Emirates service also recognizes that with Heathrow and Gatwick airports operating close to capacity, Stansted is one of the few entry points to Britain’s prosperous South East region where there is still scope for airlines to expand.
Emirates will operate its new three-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the new service, largely outside the budget airlines’ peak hours. Landing charges at London Stansted also tend to be significantly lower than at Heathrow.
Although it has a single runway, London Stansted currently handles around 26 million passengers a year but has planning permission to expand to 35 million and ambitions to grow to 43 million by the late 2020s.
Located some 39 miles north of the city in Essex and with a 47-minute express rail link to central London, Stansted is building a new £130 million ($175 million) arrivals terminal and a new £11 million aviation skills college.
As well as business travelers across north east London, Emirates’ new service is targeting around 7.5 million people living in the Stansted catchment area who currently have to travel to Heathrow or Gatwick via central London or on the city’s congested M25 outer ringroad.
According to the airline, Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore and Mumbai are the most popular business destinations from the East of England which Emirates serves through Dubai.
At CAPA — Center for Aviation, chief airports analyst David J. Bentley sees Emirates’ new service from Stansted as very significant.
He said: “This service is long-haul, full-service and eastbound, killing three birds with one stone. And there is no reason why Emirates could not extend it into a Middle East-Europe-North America service as it has done selectively with other routes via Milan, Athens and Scandinavia though there is no evidence it will do that. It is also daily; business travelers do not like long-distance services that are less than daily.”
For Middle Eastern travelers, the new service will provide a convenient entry point close to the Oxford-Cambridge corridor which is home to a cluster of “knowledge-based” tech businesses and where the UK government is targeting new infrastructure investment, including a rail link.
Emirates said that more than 25 of the world’s largest corporations — including Airbus, Astra Zeneca and GSK — have operations in the wider Cambridge and Peterborough area, close to Stansted.
Laurie Berryman, who is responsible for Emirates’ UK operations, said the service would also prove useful to the new startups and existing SMEs which form a growing section of the Cambridge business community.
Stansted’s growing cargo operation will also be significant for the airline’s freight division, Emirates SkyCargo. Rival carrier Etihad Cargo is now also operating from Stansted and this time last year used the airport to ship 72 racehorses from England to Kuwait for the winter.
Other airlines have also viewed Stansted as a gateway to the Middle East. Turkish carrier Atlasglobal launched a new daily flight from Stansted to Istanbul toward the end of 2016 which allows passengers to connect to onward flights to Dubai.
London Stansted’s position in the long-haul sector should also benefit from the launch of other new services. From next April, Danish airline Primera Air will start offering daily flights from Stansted to New York’s Newark Airport and four times a week to Boston Logan in May using its Airbus A321 NEO aircraft. Primera Air is also launching a new direct service from Stansted to Toronto from next June.
Announcing these plans recently, London Stansted CEO Ken O’Toole said: “We have the ambition and runway capacity to enable us to offer more flights to more destinations across North America, the Middle East and further afield and satisfy the growing demand from businesses and passengers across the region to fly long-haul from their local airport.”
Meanwhile, low-cost Iceland airline WOW air is also planning to launch a new service from Stansted to New York JFK via Reykjavik from next April with fares starting at £99 one way.
Stansted looks beyond Ryanair to add touch of class from Gulf
Stansted looks beyond Ryanair to add touch of class from Gulf
GCC chambers plan Gulf Guarantee project to boost intra-regional trade
DAMMAM: The Federation of GCC Chambers, in cooperation with the Customs Union Authority, intends to launch the Gulf Guarantee Project to provide a unified mechanism for exports and trade transactions and to enhance the efficiency of intra-GCC trade, which reached about $146 billion by the end of 2024, Saleh Al-Sharqi, Secretary-General of the federation, told Al-Eqtisadiah.
Al-Sharqi said, on the sidelines of his meeting with media representatives at the federation’s headquarters in Dammam, that the initiative represents a qualitative leap in supporting intra-GCC trade by facilitating transit movement through a single point, contributing to cost reduction, accelerating the flow of goods, and enhancing the reliability of trade operations among Gulf markets.
He explained that the federation recently launched a package of strategic initiatives, including the Tawasul initiative aimed at strengthening communication among Gulf business owners and supporting the building of trade and investment partnerships, in addition to the Gulf Business Facilitation initiative, which seeks to address challenges facing Gulf investors and traders, simplify procedures, and improve the business environment across member states.
He noted that these initiatives fall within an integrated vision to address obstacles hindering investment and intra-regional trade flows by developing regulatory frameworks, activating communication channels between the public and private sectors, and supporting Gulf economic integration in line with the objectives of the Gulf Common Market.
In a related context, the Secretary-General affirmed the direction of GCC countries to leverage artificial intelligence technologies to support trade and investment flows, stressing the importance of establishing a unified Gulf committee for artificial intelligence to coordinate efforts and exchange expertise among member states. He said the federation will support this direction in the coming phase, drawing on leading international experiences, particularly the Chinese experience in this field.
Regarding the recently announced electric railway project between Riyadh and Doha, Al-Sharqi revealed that technical and advisory committees are working to complete the necessary studies for the project, confirming that it will positively impact passenger and freight movement between the two countries, enhance Gulf logistical integration, and support regional supply chains.
On investment opportunities available to Gulf nationals in the Syrian market, he said the federation is coordinating with private sector representatives in Syria to overcome obstacles that may face the flow of Gulf investments, in addition to working to provide adequate guarantees to protect these investments and ensure a stable and attractive investment environment.
In response to a question from Al-Eqtisadiah about the impact of tariffs imposed by the US on imports of iron, steel, and aluminum, he said that economic and technical committees in GCC countries are continuously monitoring the repercussions of these tariffs on the Gulf private sector, assessing their effects, and taking the necessary measures to protect it from any potential negative impacts.
Al-Sharqi also pointed to the launch of two specialized committees in the transport and logistics sectors and in real estate activities, given their pivotal role and active contribution to Gulf gross domestic product, stressing that developing these two sectors is a fundamental pillar for enhancing economic diversification and increasing the competitiveness of GCC economies.
He added that during the past year the federation held more than 40 meetings and official engagements with Gulf and international entities, participated in nine regional and international events to strengthen the presence of the Gulf private sector on the global stage, and signed 12 agreements and memoranda of understanding with Gulf, regional, and international entities to open new horizons for economic and investment cooperation.
During the same year, the federation launched four digital platforms to support the Gulf private sector, bringing the total number of its digital platforms to eight serving the business community across member states.
The Secretary-General affirmed that the federation will continue working with relevant economic entities to unify procedures and regulations, reduce non-tariff barriers, and accelerate mutual recognition of products and standard specifications, in a way that enhances the competitiveness of the Gulf economy and supports the growth of intra-GCC trade.
