Emirates to deploy A380 on Johannesburg route

The jumbo jet will be deployed on the route from February 1, 2017

July 26, 2016

Dubai airline Emirates will be upgrading one of its four daily flights between Dubai and Johannesburg to an Airbus A380-800 from February 1, 2017, it announced on Tuesday.

The carrier currently uses a Boeing 777 aircraft for each of the four daily flights.

The jumbo A380 jet will be deployed on the first flight of the day, EK761, and will depart Dubai at 04h40 and arrive in Johannesburg at 10h55. The return flight, EK762, will depart Johannesburg at 13h25 and arrive in Dubai at 23h45.

The A380 will offer a total of 516 seats in a three class cabin configuration, with 14 private suites in first class, 76 lie-flat seats in business class and 426 economy seats.

It will also provide onboard shower spas for first class passengers and a lounge for first and business class guests.

The new service will be operated as codeshare with South African Airways as with all other Emirates’ services to South Africa.

The Dubai-Johannesburg route is the busiest in the airline’s African network with over three million passengers carried in the last five years, a statement said.

Emirates first started services to South Africa 21 years ago and in addition to the four daily flights to Johannesburg, it also offers three daily flights between Dubai and Cape Town and a daily flight to Durban.

The world’s largest operator of A380s with 81 currently in its fleet and a further 61 on order, Emirates currently operates the jumbo Airbus jet to over 40 destinations worldwide.

Last week, the airline revealed plans to upgrade one of its daily routes to Milan to an Airbus A380 jet from October 1, 2016. The airline said the A380 will replace its Boeing 777-300ER, which currently operates the route.

In June, Emirates also announced plans to deploy an A380 aircraft on its daily Moscow route from December 1, 2016 to meet increasing demand.

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