Travel

New York A380 Flights to Start in August

posted: 10 June 2008 10:59 a.m. ET

: Emirates is operating the first commercial service with its first new A380 superjumbo to New York JFK, on Aug. 1, 2008. The airline is by far the largest customer for the A380, with 58 of the huge jets on order. Credit: Emirates Airline

The first-ever commercial flight of an Airbus A380 to the Americas will occur on Aug. 1, when Emirates Airline operates a nonstop Dubai-New York JFK flight with the superjumbo aircraft.

Marking a double first, the flight will also represent Emirates' first commercial service with the A380. The airline will take delivery of its first aircraft from Airbus three days prior to its first commercial A380 service. The 14-hour Dubai-New York JFK nonstop will represent an unusually long flight for an airline operating its first service with a type completely new to its fleet.

“The Americas represent a key focus area in Emirates’ route development plans, and we are delighted to be the first airline to launch commercial A380 services to the continent," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline & Group, said in a statement.

Emirates has kept details of its A380 interiors and onboard service under wraps so far, saying it will reveal then for the first time when the airline receives its first A380 from Airbus’ Hamburg facility on July 28.

However, in his statement, Sheikh Al-Maktoum gave a hint to passengers to expect something special. "We are confident that Emirates’ customers travelling to and from North America will welcome the A380’s additional space and capacity, as well as our luxurious onboard amenities, which will provide a very high quality travel experience previously associated only with private jets,” said the sheikh.

The A380 operating the first service will be fitted with Emirates' ultra long-haul seat configuration for its A380. This configuration seats a total of 489 passengers: 14 in first class, 76 in business class and 399 in economy. With this configuration, the A380 will also be able to carry 13 tonnes of cargo in its belly hold.

Emirates will operate its first A380 between Dubai and New York JFK on commercial flights on Aug. 1 and Aug. 3. These will be additional flights to its existing twice-a-day non-stop service. Subsequently, Emirates will deploy the A380 between Dubai and New York, on one of its scheduled twice-daily flights. Emirates previously had revealed that it planned to operate daily Dubai-New York flights from Oct. 1.

The carrier's first commercial A380 flight between Dubai and New York JFK will have the flight number EK3801. It will leave Dubai at 11:00 a.m. local time and will arrive at New York JFK at 4:45 p.m. local time. The return flight, EK3802, will depart JFK at 9:00 p.m. and arrive at Dubai at 5:45 p.m. the following day. Dubai is eight hours ahead of New York.

Emirates expects delivery of five A380s in its current financial year, which ends on March 31, 2009. All five will feature its ultra-long-haul cabin configuration (though Emirates expects to take delivery of some A380s in future years with more than 600 seats, for its short-haul routes from Dubai to several Indian and Middle East destinations). The airline plans to introduce them on its route from Dubai to London Heathrow before the end of the year, and on its Dubai-Sydney-Auckland route in early 2009.

The largest customer for the A380 superjumbo, Emirates has 58 A380s on order. The 58 A380s are worth $18.8 billion at current list prices.

Emirates currently flies an all-widebody fleet of 116 aircraft to 99 cities in more than 60 countries. The airline has invested in 58 A380s, and more than 100 additional new-generation aircraft. The airline says its current order book of 180 aircraft (excluding options), worth approximately $58 billion, is possibly the largest-ever in commercial aviation history.