Compared & Contrasted: Where The Middle Eastern 'Big 3' Airlines Fly Their Airbus A380s

In recent decades, the Middle East has established itself as a vital region when it comes to worldwide long-haul connectivity. While the area’s airports are keen to market their cities as worthwhile destinations in their own right, they also handle a tremendous amount of transit traffic where guests fly in from all corners of the globe, using these hubs’ convenient location as an ideal stopover in the middle of a much longer trip across the world.

For this reason, the ‘big three’ Middle Eastern airlines, namely Emirates and Etihad Airways from the United Arab Emirates (based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively) and Qatar Airways from Doha, are among the few carriers that have made the Airbus A380 work. The double-decker quadjet was designed to serve such carriers’ ‘hub-and-spoke’ network models, but what are each of their top routes with the type? Let’s take a look and see!

Emirates Is The Dominant Operator

Per Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Emirates has scheduled 5,146 flights with its Airbus A380 fleet this December. The fleet in question is by far the largest of any operator, with ch-aviation noting that it consists of 118 A380s with an average age of 11 years old. These jets have between 468 and 615 seats.

Flying out of Dubai (DXB), Emirates’ top route for A380 usage this December serves London Heathrow (LHR) a whopping six times a day. Next up is Bangkok (BKK), with four daily round trips, while Cairo (CAI), Jeddah (JED), London Gatwick (LGW), Manchester (MAN), Paris (CDG), Singapore (SIN), and Sydney (SYD) all see three rotations a day. This winter, Emirates has boosted its capacity on the Heathrow route, with the carrier saying:

“The boosted schedule for the winter season follows record growth and demand, providing more convenience and departure time choices for travellers journeying to and from London Heathrow, and is well-timed to serve the year-end travel peak.”

Qatar Airways

Emirates’ December A380 schedule is almost 13 times as large as that of Qatar Airways in terms of the number of services scheduled, with the oneworld member having penciled in 401 flights with its superjumbos next month. The carrier’s A380 fleet consists of 10 units aged 10.4 years old on average, with aeroLOPA noting that they are configured with eight first class suites, 48 business class flatbeds, and 461 economy class seats.

While Bangkok is the second-most popular A380 destination when it comes to Emirates’ superjumbo operations this December, the Thai capital ranks first for Qatar Airways, with the carrier having scheduled 24 weekly round trips from Doha (DOH) to Suvarnabhumi Airport next month. The exact frequency fluctuates between three and four rotations a day, underlining the importance of this intra-Asia route for Qatar Airways’ A380 operations.

Elsewhere, the airline’s superjumbos will operate one flight a day in each direction from Doha to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. Once again, London Heathrow also features, and is served daily for the most part, but on two days (December 2 and 15), there is a second A380 rotation.

Etihad Airways

Last but not least, Etihad Airways has scheduled a total of 352 A380 flights to and from its Abu Dhabi (AUH) hub this December. The carrier has eight examples of the double-decker widebody quadjet in its fleet with an average age of 10.1 years old, and they have the capacity to seat 486 passengers in a three-class layout. This includes 11 first class guests (of which two get to use ‘The Residence’), 70 in business, and 405 in economy.

Etihad’s top A380 destination this December is London Heathrow, with 19 return flights penciled in every week. This mostly amounts to a daily frequency of three rotations, although it drops to two on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Elsewhere, the carrier will fly the type daily to and from two usual suspects in the form of Paris Charles de Gaulle and Singapore Changi, as well as a less common superjumbo destination: Toronto Pearson (YYZ).