Emirates says to launch Hamburg A380 service

Emirates has announced that it will introduce the first scheduled commercial Airbus A380 service to Hamburg later this year.

The A380 will be deployed on the morning service (EK059/EK060) on October 29, while the afternoon service (EK061/EK062) will be launched on the following day.

The deployment of the double decker aircraft will represent a capacity increase of over 22 percent on the route, the airline said in a statement.

With a total of 6,090 weekly seats in each direction, Emirates said the service will join daily A380 services to Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf.

Emirates’ Airbus A380 aircraft serving the Dubai-Hamburg route will offer a total of 516 seats in a three-class configuration.

Volker Greiner, Emirates vice president North and Central Europe, said: “We are excited to finally bring our Airbus flagship ‘home’ and see Hamburg join the other 48 destinations we currently serve with the A380.

"The switch to the A380 offers a total of 1,120 additional seats per week in each direction, meeting a growing demand from travellers on the route and demonstrating our commitment to Hamburg."

Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO of Hamburg Airport, added: "Emirates has been a fixed component of our operations and a reliable partner for twelve years now. Demand has been high on the direct route to the hub in Dubai, now served with two daily flights, from the very beginning. The fact that Emirates is now also deploying the A380 for scheduled operations at Hamburg Airport is a logical consequence of the consistently high load factor on the Dubai flight."

This year marks the 10th year of Emirates’ A380 operations. The airline is by far the largest Airbus A380 operator on the planet.

With a current 103-strong A380 fleet and an order backlog for 59 additional aircraft combined, Emirates’ commitment to the A380 programme is worth over $60 billion.