Emirates to fly new first class suite to London

Qantas partner Emirates will launch non-stop flights between Dubai and London’s Stansted Airport in June 2018, to be served by its newest Boeing 777 aircraft fitted with the airline’s all-new first class suites.

Offering passengers floor-to-ceiling closing doors, these suites are more like private rooms on board, with customisable lighting and temperature controls, and curtains for the windows as opposed to traditional window blinds.

Sitting away from the windows but still want to enjoy the view? That’s okay, because the centre suites feature virtual windows – display monitors in the shape of a typical aircraft window, with built-in screens imitating the view outside with the help of external aircraft cameras.

Of course, these suites transform into fully-flat beds at the touch of a button, or a restful position for watching TV…

… and forget pressing your call bell if your Champagne needs a top-up: you can telephone or video chat with ‘room service’ to order more:

AusBT photo tour: Inside Emirates' all-new luxury first class suite

From June 8 2018, Emirates flight EK33 departs Dubai at 9:30am to reach London Stansted at 2:10pm local time – while on the return, it’s wheels-up at 9:10pm ahead of a 7:05am arrival in Dubai the following morning, aboard flight EK34.

Business class also features a “refreshed” cabin with fully-flat beds, but still comes in a less-than-desirable 2-3-2 layout as on Emirates’ other Boeing 777 jets:

Read: Emirates' Boeing 777 business class refresh keeps 2-3-2 layout

Stansted Airport is connected to London via the Stansted Express, zipping passengers to central London’s Liverpool Street Station in around 47 minutes – although most first class and business class passengers will instead enjoy complimentary chauffeur-driven transfers at each end of their journey.

The north-east London airport is also closer to the technology, pharmaceutical and university hubs of Cambridge and Peterborough than London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, to which Emirates already offers nine daily flights.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.