Emirates to introduce A380 on daily Dubai-Auckland route

Dubai airline Emirates will introduce the jumbo A380 jet on the world’s longest route between Dubai and Auckland to meet growing demand, it announced on Thursday.

The double-decker A380 will operate on the daily non-stop route from October 30, a statement said.

The airline currently uses a Boeing 777-200LR on the route, which was launched on March 1. The very first commemorative flight was operated by an A380.

Read: Emirates starts world’s longest flight

Emirates also flies three daily A380s from Auckland to Dubai and beyond via Australia, and a daily Boeing 777-300ER from Christchurch.

The new A380 will operate eastbound as flight EK448, departing Dubai at 10:05am and arriving in Auckland the following day at 11:10am (local time).

Flight EK449 will depart Auckland each night at 9:15pm, arriving in Dubai the following morning at 5:35am (local time). This flight also connects in both directions with 10 A380 destinations, the airline said.

The flight time from Dubai to Auckland is expected to be 16 hours and five minutes, with a longer Auckland-Dubai return leg of 17 hours and 20 minutes with an A380. The total route length is 14,200km.

Emirates, which received its 80th Airbus A380 earlier this week, is currently the world’s largest operator of the jumbo jet.

Read more here: Emirates receives 80th A380 jet from Airbus

Last month, the airline also placed a new order for an additional two new A380 aircraft, to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2017, bringing its order books for the aircraft to 64.

Emirates A380s currently serve 40 destinations worldwide – one out of every four destinations on the airline’s passenger network. Vienna will become the next A380 destination starting from July 1.