Emirates Airline said on Tuesday it will introduce a permanent A380 superjumbo service to its Singapore route from December.

Emirates will be the first and only carrier to offer a scheduled A380 service on this route, it said in a statement.

The 517-seat A380 aircraft will be deployed for flights EK354 and EK355 on the back of strong passenger demand in both directions, replacing the 354-seat Boeing 777-300ER, a 46 percent increase in capacity, it added.

Story continues below
Advertisement

With the addition of A380 services, Emirates’ total capacity across four daily services from Dubai to Singapore will increase to 1,659 seats daily.

The launch of A380 services confirms Changi Airport’s status as Emirates’ South East Asian hub with over 1,100 seats daily connecting through to Brisbane, Melbourne and Colombo.

Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ senior vice president, Commercial Operations Far East & Australasia, said: “Emirates is currently operating a two week ad-hoc Airbus A380 service between Dubai and Singapore which has received extremely positive responses from our passengers.

"In light of this we have decided to bring our flagship aircraft to Singapore on a permanent basis. This follows our progressive build-up of services on this route over the last few years.

"Despite the current global economic uncertainty, we remain committed to the Singapore market adding significant seat capacity – over 2,200 seats a week – which is set to foster tourism and trade between Singapore, Dubai and beyond.”

As the largest operator of the double-decker aircraft, Emirates’ fleet of 23 A380s now serve Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Manchester, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome,Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, and Tokyo.

Additional A380 destinations that are set to launch this year include Melbourne (from October 1) and both Singapore and Moscow (from December 1).

Last year, Emirates increased the frequency of flights on the Singapore-Dubai with seven additional weekly flights, bringing the total number of flights out of Singapore to 28 – the most number of direct Singapore-Dubai flights offered by any airline.