The giant of the sky – the Airbus A380 – has been hit hard by the pandemic. However, for Emirates (who operate the largest fleet of the type), there is hope for these returning to the air, as the airline continues its network ramp-up.
Emirates Airbus A380 preparing to depart Heathrow – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
With further aircraft being deployed in October and November, by end of November, the number of cities that the aircraft will serve will be scaled up to 27, representing a more than 65% increase from its current 16.
With the addition of 11 routes to the A380 network by November, as well as extra frequencies on the most popular ones already being served by the aircraft, Emirates is poised to offer close to 165,000 additional A380 seats to customers.
Over the next six weeks, Emirates will re-instate its A380 services to:
- Amsterdam
- Barcelona
- Dusseldorf
- Hamburg
- Johannesburg
- Madrid
- Milan
- Riyadh (subject to government approvals)
- Sao Paulo
- Zurich
Istanbul will also join the Emirates A380 network – a new connection that is due to commence on the 1st of October.
Plenty of A380s, but lacking the people to fill them.
Emirates A380 fleet will leach 118 aircraft by the end of the year, including six aircraft equipped with Premium Economy seats in a 4-class configuration.
The airline currently flies to over 120 cities, representing 90% of its pre-pandemic network, and plans to restore 70% of its capacity by the end of the year are on track with the return to service of more than 50 A380 aircraft.
That’s still just under half of the fleet they have – with the airline ready to deploy more as capacity demands increase.
The airline is gradually and responsibly deploying its popular aircraft in sync with passenger demand as the travel industry continues on its path to recovery.
Still a passenger experience winner.
We all know when configured in a certain way, the Airbus A380 becomes one of the nicest ways to fly. Emirates has both three and four class variants, with an onboard bar, flatbeds in business and first, showers in first class and also – 18″ seat width in the economy (handily beating its Boeing 777 fleet in economy class comfort terms).
For passengers, it is something to look out for when these double-decker aircraft take to the skies and see if they’re on their route.
And as passengers return to the air – it might be worth the airline to remind its customers of the benefit of the type – Even today, the Airbus A380 has a lot going for it.
You just need to fill them with passengers first.
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