Along with Perth in Australia, India’s tech hub is being added to a network of over 30 destinations served by the superjumbos.
Photo: Emirates
Emirates will be introducing its flagship A380 service for the first time to Bengaluru from October 30 – making it the first airline to operate scheduled passenger services utilizing the double-decker aircraft at Kempegowda International Airport. Deploying an A380 allows the Gulf carrier to boost capacity on a single flight by up to 45 percent compared to Boeing 777s. Bengaluru will be the second city in India to be served by Emirates’ superjumbos, which have been plying the Dubai–Mumbai route since 2014.
The daily A380 flights will operate as EK568/569 with an aircraft in a three-class configuration, offering seats in economy, business, and first class. This will complement the existing services on the route, EK564/565 and EK566/567, each also running on a daily basis but with wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Emirates’ A380s will be returning to Perth from December 1, expanding capacity between Dubai and Western Australia with close to 500 seats available on each flight. The decision was driven by a strong increase in passenger bookings between Europe and the southern continent, with significant demand for seats across all cabins. EK420 from Dubai will depart at 2:45 a.m., arriving in Perth at 5:20 p.m. the same day, while EK421 flight will leave Perth at 10:20 p.m. and touch down in Dubai at 5:25 a.m. the following morning. The daily A380 service will replace the existing daily Boeing 777-300ER operation between Dubai and Perth.
The announcement comes as the leading Gulf carrier marks 20 years of serving Perth. Since its inaugural flight to the Western Australian capital in August 2002, Emirates has flown close to 6 million passengers between Perth and Dubai, traveling more than 220 million kilometers on over 24,000 flights. In addition to its Perth services, Emirates also flies A380s twice a day from Dubai to Melbourne and Sydney, as well as a daily A380 service from Dubai to Brisbane.
