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Emirates expands premium economy A380 service across key global destinations

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Emirates expands premium economy A380 service across key global destinations
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Webp emirates
Tim Clark, President of Emirates | Emirates Airlines

Emirates continues to expand the deployment of its four-class Airbus A380s, which feature premium economy cabins, across a growing list of international destinations. The airline currently operates 116 Airbus A380 aircraft, although not all are in active service. Of these, 40 superjumbos have been fitted with a four-class layout since the introduction of premium economy in 2021.

There are three seating configurations for Emirates’ four-class A380s: 468, 484, and 487 seats. These aircraft will serve 24 airports from October to December this year. Some routes will see the four-class equipment for the first time; for example, Perth is scheduled to receive it starting October 19, with frequency reducing to one daily flight on October 26. Emirates’ daily New York JFK service via Milan Malpensa will switch from three-class to four-class aircraft equipped with premium economy on November 10.

London Heathrow remains the leading destination for Emirates' four-class A380 services. Four out of six daily departures between Dubai and Heathrow use these aircraft; the other two flights use higher-capacity A380s without premium economy but with more seats in economy class. The specific configuration used may vary during the quarter—for instance, the lowest-capacity (468-seat) version is scheduled only through October 25 before being replaced by a larger configuration.

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Other major destinations include Melbourne and Sydney (with some flights continuing to Christchurch), each seeing two-thirds of their services operated by four-class A380s. Milan Malpensa also receives up to two daily flights with these aircraft starting November 10, one of which continues onward to New York JFK.

From December 1, all three daily Dubai–New York JFK flights will offer premium economy on board.

The latest reconfigured six-aircraft fleet with the lowest seat count—468 seats—features updated products and fewer total seats than any other Emirates superjumbo layout: “There are 14 seats in first (1-2-1), 76 in business (1-2-1), 56 in premium economy (2-4-2; 40"), and just 322 in economy (3-4-3; 32").” Between October and December, this version will operate from Dubai to Brisbane, London Heathrow, Manchester, Milan Malpensa (October 16 only), New York JFK, Nice, Osaka Kansai, Perth, Singapore (December 21 only), and Zurich. Brisbane and Nice are set to have a daily service using this specific configuration throughout the quarter.

Dubai International Airport serves as Emirates’ main hub and is among the busiest globally for widebody operations as well as long-haul traffic.

“Four of its six daily departures are on it,” referring to London Heathrow’s schedule according to Emirates. “They’ll then switch to the 487-seater,” reflecting planned changes later in the quarter.

Emirates was founded in 1985 and operates as a full-service carrier under CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

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