ONE of the world’s fastest growing airlines is celebrating its one millionth passenger to fly from the Newcastle Airport to Dubai.

Emirates launched its daily long-haul daily services in September 2007.

To celebrate the special occasion, the airline surprised a lucky couple, Sheila and Peter Laverick with an upgrade to Business Class to Dubai and presented them with champagne and a cake.

Mr and Mrs Laverick revealed they had milestones of their own: they are flying to New Zealand, via Sydney where they will be spending Christmas with their daughter, son-in-law and grandson to celebrate the couple’s forthcoming Golden Wedding anniversary and Mrs Laverick’s 70th birthday next year. 

“We wanted to do something really special to celebrate our 50 years of marriage” said Sheila Laverick, before joking: “and the fact that surprisingly, we still love each other after all these years.

“Being offered the opportunity to travel in style, in Emirates Business Class to Dubai is such a lovely addition and will certainly help to make this a very special trip”.

Laurie Berryman, Emirates vice president UK, said: “We wanted to do something special to mark our millionth passenger out of Newcastle, so it was heart-warming that this couple were celebrating special milestones of their own. We’d like to pass on our best wishes to Mr and Mrs Laverick as they fly Emirates to Sydney today as part of their celebrations of their Golden Wedding anniversary and Mrs Laverick’s 70th.

“The fact we have reached one million passengers out of Newcastle is an indication of our commitment to Newcastle and the North-East and the amazing popularity of our service, which was upgraded to a Boeing 777-300ER only last year. This is the longest aircraft to operate out of Newcastle airport, and represented a capacity increase of more than 50 per cent.

“We are the only long-haul, scheduled airline to fly daily from Newcastle to Dubai and beyond, allowing our North Eastern passengers to experience long-haul travel from Newcastle, rather than having to change in London or a continental European hub. 

“Our commitment to the North East includes Emirates’ sponsorship of Durham County Cricket Club and the recent upgrade of our daily flight to Dubai to a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, due to passenger demand.”

Dave Laws, chief executive at Newcastle International Airport, said: 

“We are delighted to have reached the millionth passenger milestone with Emirates. The route is more popular than ever with north east travellers who benefit from the excellent connections on offer and high quality service. Passengers have been travelling across the globe to exciting destinations such as Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, India, South Africa, Maldives and Mauritius. 

“Alongside its popularity with passengers the Emirates service offers significant benefits to the regional economy. In 2013 the service transported North-East exports with a value of over £250m worldwide.

"The route is utilised by holidaymakers and business travellers to travel across the globe – 75 per cent of passengers are travelling onwards to South East Asia and the Southwest Pacific (Australasia).”