Good news Birmingham, Beijing and Shanghai – you’re about to enjoy the Emirates flagship aircraft on all services to and from Dubai. That’s what we found out Monday when the Dubai-based airline announced the three destinations would go all A380 – replacing the current Boeing 777-300 aircraft used on these services.
The first was Birmingham, located in the West Midlands of the UK. Emirates said the decision had been made due to the “immense popularity of the iconic aircraft”, claiming increased tourism to the city necessitated the move.
The airline currently offers two direct services a day between Birmingham and Dubai with the second being served by a Boeing 777-300. That will now get an upgrade to Emirates’ flagship aircraft in part “driven by huge demand from passengers to travel on the iconic aircraft.”
With the A380 comes a huge increase in capacity – The airline will have an additional 255 seats available daily. Both flights will be served by a two-class A380 – with 557 Economy seats covering the entire main deck and half the upper deck. The rest of the upper deck is fitted out with 58 Business Class seats and the famous onboard lounge and bar.
Birmingham has certainly come a long way in the Emirates route network since the airline first started flying there in 2000. Back then, the city had just one flight a day and was served by an old Airbus A330 with just 278 seats. In the following 17 years, 5.2 million passengers have flown between Dubai and Birmingham.
The airline puts some of the demand down to the city’s popularity with international students who are attracted to universities in the region. The service will be upgraded from 29th October 2017.
Seamless A380-A380 Connections to 30 international points
For Beijing and Shanghai, Emirates is touting a seamless A380 experience for connecting passengers. With the upgraded services the airline will be able to offer passengers A380 – A380 connections to 30 international destinations from both cities.
Shanghai joined the Emirates route network in 2004 – the first Chinese destination for the airline. Beijing followed in 2006 with A380 operations beginning in 2010. Today, Emirates offers 38 weekly flights to China, which includes services to Guangzhou, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou.
For both Beijing and Shanghai, Emirates will be offering a three-class configuration with 14 First Class Suites, 76 Business Class seats and 427 Economy seats.
The A380 will be deployed on all flights to both cities starting July 01st.
you seem to have missed the point that Birmingham to Dubai is currently served by THREE flights a day.
swapping to two A380s a day will only partly offset the reduction.