Emirates Raises London A380 Service Frequency
16 November 2011
Emirates Raises London A380 Service Frequency
Emirates' A380 services from Dubai to London Heathrow will become triple daily from 24th January 24, 2012.
This will mean three out of the airline's five daily flights into Heathrow will be served by the superjumbo.
Emirates' early morning A380 flight EK 001 already provides New Zealanders with a direct connection at Dubai to London Heathrow, and Emirates is the only airline offering A380 service all the way from Auckland to London, Manchester and Paris.
Emirates' flagship aircraft will in January replace Boeing 777s on EK flight 029 from Dubai to Heathrow, departing Dubai at 9.40am, and on the return flight EK 030, departing Heathrow at 4.35pm, adding capacity to one of the airline's busiest routes.
"Given the popularity of Emirates' A380s, I know this news will be well received by our customers flying between London Heathrow, Dubai and beyond. As these magnificent aircraft continue to join our fleet, we can offer more seats and choice in and out of high density points, while enabling a greater number of passengers to benefit from the Emirates' A380 experience," said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation.
The airline first brought its own brand of double decker, equipped with an onboard lounge and shower spas, to the British capital in December 2008. The A380 has operated one of Emirates' four daily services from New Zealand to Dubai and beyond, via Australia, since February 2009.
Passengers in all classes can settle down to more than 1000 channels of films, television programmes, music and games carried on the ice entertainment system. A personal satellite phone is fitted to each seat, which also carries a seat-back texting and email service, along with seat to seat calling and a "My USB" personal picture viewing facility.
The third A380 service into Heathrow is another major investment for Emirates in the UK, where it operates 105 weekly flights via six gateways - London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow.
In September of last year, Manchester, which now has a triple daily service from Dubai, became Emirates' second UK gateway to be served by the A380 superjumbo, operating EK flights 017 and 018.
Emirates, the world's biggest superjumbo operator, now has a fleet of 17 Airbus A380s among a total of 162 aircraft and has another 73 of the double-deckers on order.
At the Dubai Air Show on Sunday (13th November), Emirates announced an order for an additional 50 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, worth approximately US$18 billion at list prices, with a further 20 Boeing 777-300 ER options valued at US$8 billion.
ENDS