Emirates to fly Airbus A380 to Cairo for the first time

The Dubai airline plans on making it a regular service to the Egyptian capital

epa07368337 (FILE) - An Airbus A380-800 aircraft of UAE carrier Emirates taxies after landing at Duesseldorf International Airport in Duesseldorf, Germany, 18 January 2018 (reissued 14 February 2019). Airbus has announced that it will shut down production of the A380 superjumbo due to weaker than expected demand. The A380 was the world’s largest airliner.  EPA/SASCHA STEINBACH
Powered by automated translation

Emirates is taking its superjumbo Airbus A380 to Egypt for the first time.

The Dubai airline announced that it will operate a flight to Cairo International Airport on Wednesday, October 2. This will make it the first scheduled commercial airline to operate an A380 flight into Egypt

And Emirates also confirmed that it intends to make the A380 a regular part of its service to the country.

"We are setting the stage to make the popular A380 experience a part of our scheduled service to Cairo," said Adel Al Redha, Emirates chief operating officer.

"Egypt has always been a significant destination for us in the region, and we are humbled to be able to play a role in making aviation history in Egypt."

______________

The Airbus A380 through the years

______________

Departing Dubai at 8.45am for a relatively short flight compared so many of the A380s routes, the flight will arrive at Cairo at 10am. The return flight departs at 1.15pm local time and arrives in Dubai at 6.45pm.

As short as it may seem, it isn't the shortest route Emirates has for its A380.

In July, it started flying twice daily from Dubai to Muscat in Oman - a route spanning just 349km and taking around 40 minutes. The twice-daily schedule runs until around late October, when the winter timetable commences.

It also launched A380 flights to Amman in Jordan earlier this year

Emirates' longest A380 flight is to Auckland in New Zealand, which takes 17 hours and 5 minutes.

The Dubai carrier has been flying to Cairo since April 1986 with three flights per week.

Earlier this year the airline said it was adding four additional flights a week starting from October 28, taking weekly flights to a total of 25.

Emirates, the world's largest operator of the superjumbo, currently has 112 A380s in service and 11 pending delivery.