It’s the largest passenger airliner in the world and it’s going on its shortest ever scheduled journey with Emirates.
Chances are, if you’ve flown on the A380 it’s been on a mid-to-long haul service, because it was designed specifically to cover vast distances (apparently it can fly Sydney to Istanbul non-stop), and as the largest passenger airliner, it can squeeze in more passengers and in turn make airlines more money.
However, Emirates, one of the largest operators of the jumbo jet with 87 in its current fleet and 55 on order, has decided to utilise one of its A380s on the Dubai-Doha route, which only covers around 379 kilometres and last for 1 hour and 20 minutes (maximum).
That’s right, Emirates is using the world’s biggest plane on the world’s shortest scheduled A30 service.
The first short haul service for the aircraft touched down earlier this week, with prominent members of the UAE business community on board, including Adil Al Ghaith, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf Middle East and Iran.
The men likely flew in the aircraft’s First Class, which is fitted with shower spas, although with only a little over one hour in the air, it’s unlikely they had time to for a quick wash before touch down. Watch actress, Jennifer Aniston, show off the airline’s many A380 First Class features here.
Emirates explained its decision to move the large aircraft onto the short route by noting strong demand between Dubai and Qatar’s capital, Doha, which has reached some 3.7 million passengers in the last five years.
The carrier added that although it may only feel like a quick hop from Doha to Dubai, the flight is timed to accommodate travellers looking to fly onwards from Dubai to cities like New York, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Manchester, Dusseldorf, Milan, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam.
