Ten airlines currently operate the Airbus A380, including All Nippon, Asiana, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Data from Cirium Diio shows that these carriers will use the aircraft on 88 airport pairs and 93 routes worldwide in December.
While most discussions about the A380 focus on its busiest or most unique deployments—such as Etihad’s upcoming flights to Tokyo Narita or Lufthansa’s special livery for its 100th anniversary—less attention is given to the least-served routes. According to Cirium data, six routes involving five airport pairs will have no more than nine departing A380 flights throughout December. These less-frequent services are operated by airlines from East Asia or Australia; all but two are short-haul routes.
The only long-haul examples among these are operated by Qantas. The airline is temporarily deploying its 485-seat A380s between Melbourne and Singapore to meet increased demand during a brief period: outbound flights from Melbourne to Singapore run between November 24 and 30; return flights from Singapore back to Melbourne take place between November 25 and December 1.
Among the least-served A380 routes in December:
– Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita (Korean Air): Nine departures
– Melbourne to Los Angeles (Qantas): Nine departures
– Seoul Incheon to Hong Kong (Korean Air): Three departures (December 1–3)
– Seoul Incheon to Taipei Taoyuan (Korean Air): One departure (December 7)
– Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita (Asiana): One departure (December 19)
– Singapore back to Melbourne (Qantas): One departure (December 1)
The shortest of these is Seoul Incheon–Tokyo Narita at just 680 nautical miles each way. Despite limited superjumbo service on this route—nine departures with Korean Air in December—it marks Korean Air’s highest frequency of A380 operations on this pair since December 2012. The carrier also offers multiple daily services between Seoul and Tokyo using various aircraft types.
Qantas’ Melbourne–Los Angeles route stands out as one of the longest nonstop A380 services globally at nearly 6,900 nautical miles. While it once ran daily for several years after its launch in 2008, it now operates twice weekly with scheduled departures from both cities on Thursdays and Saturdays.
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