Emirates Airlines is going to fly their Airbus A380 superjumbo to Manchester, UK from the first of September.
The Dubai based carrier will be replacing one of their two daily flights between Dubai and Manchester on September 1, 2010. The plane to be operated to their second A380 destination in the UK will be a 517 seat version of the largest Airbus plane. The A380 will replace a Boeing 777 that currently operates the route.
Manchester will be the 9th destination that Emirates flies the A380 to, and the third in Europe, following London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Outside of Europe they operate the doubledecker aircraft to Toronto, Jeddah, Bangkok, Soeul Incheon, Sydney and Auckland.
This announcement didn’t come cheap for Manchester, though: “We have invested close to £10 million in upgrading the airfield and terminal. . .to accommodate the aircraft,” Andrew Cornish from Manchester Airport said.
why is this 9th? it should’ve been like 3rd or 4th. most of uae is made up of british expats living and working there.
Good point. You should be asking this from Emirates, but they probably made investigations and calculations before defining where they fly the new A380. There are a lot of factors to be considered, and the number of people travelling on a route is just one of them. How much does it cost to land at an airport? (if expensive, it’s better to land only once a day with the A380, instead of two smaller planes). How many passengers are flying with Emirates regardless of the plane type? In what markets would it be a differentiating decision making factor that Emirates actually flies the A380? What markets do they need to match the offering of Singapore Airlines for example? Etc., etc.
Where are the Americans in this act of purchasing these super-jumbos?
By December, 2009, a total of 202 A380′s have been ordered, with NO AMERICAN airline on the list yet:
Europe:
Air France 12
British Airways 12
Lufthansa 15
Virgin Atlantic 6
Europe Total: 45
Asia:
Air Austral 2
China Southern 5
Kingfisher Airlines 5
Korean Airlines 10
Malaysia Airlines 6
Singapore Airlines 19
Thai Airways 6
Asia Total: 53
Middle-East:
Emirates 58
Etihad 10
Qatar Airways 5
Middle-East Total: 73
Australia/Oceania:
Qantas Airways 20
Australia Total: 20
Other:
ILFC (will be sold/leased to unknown airlines) 10
Kingdom Holding Company (will be used as a private jet) 1
Other Total: 11
Grand Total: 202
Emirates just ordered another 32 of the type yesterday, bringing their total to 90 (!).