According to 
Emirates’ latest schedule filing to Cirium Diio, next summer’s 
London Gatwick plan has changed. While Gatwick was to have one Emirates A380 service a day, it will now have two. That’s still down from the three flights that primarily operated in 2025, but it is still a meaningful increase on what was scheduled.
It comes amid bigger changes. When all aircraft are considered, the Gulf carrier will increase Gatwick flights to four daily in early February 2026. As such, Emirates’ overall London service will rise to a record 13 daily passenger departures this winter.
Emirates Increases Next Summer’s Gatwick A380 Flights
Based on IATA slot seasons, northern carriers, including Emirates, will shift to summer schedules on Sunday, March 29, 2026. Emirates will continue to fly to Gatwick, the UK’s second-busiest airport, four times daily. However, while it previously planned a daily A380 operation, the type will now run twice daily.
The second daily superjumbo service will use the non-first-class, two-class, 615-seat configuration. This exceptionally high-capacity version has 58 business seats and a whopping 557 in ecomomy. It has replaced the first-class-equipped, 354-seat Boeing 777-300ER. The equipment switch means that Emirates will have 3,730 daily round-trip seats for sale, which is an increase of 17% compared to what was previously expected.
|
Frequency |
Dubai To Gatwick Flights In April; Local Times* |
Gatwick To Dubai In April; Local Times** |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily |
02:45-07:20 (777-300ER) |
10:05-20:00 (777-300ER) |
|
Daily |
08:00-12:35 (A380) |
14:30-00:40+1 (A380) |
|
Daily |
14:55-19:45 (was the 777-300ER, now the A380) |
21:45-07:35+1 (was the 777-300ER, now the A380) |
|
Daily |
16:10-20:50 (A350-900) |
23:55-10:00+1 (A350-900) |
|
* Planned as of October 15, and subject to change |
** Planned as of October 15, and subject to change |
Emirates Filled 80% Of Gatwick Seats Between January & July 2025
According to UK Civil Aviation Authority data for January to July 2025, Emirates carried 535,700 passengers to/from 
Dubai, which is the world’s third-busiest airport for long-haul activity. This figure includes those who only traveled to the ever-popular tourist destination and those who continued elsewhere on other flights.
In those seven months, Emirates had three daily services. The A380 was usually used on two of those, while the 777-300ER ran daily. However, the superjumbo occasionally operated all three services, such as until mid-January and from mid-July.
As Cirium Diio shows that Emirates had 670,300 available seats, the airline achieved an average seat load factor of 80%. Given its forthcoming fourth daily flight, it’ll be interesting to see how loads perform. It’ll need to balance loads, yields, total revenue, market share, and competitiveness.
With just 70%, March was the worst-performing month in this sense, as the lower traffic was not met with lower capacity. Airlines don’t tend to be quite this responsive. In contrast, April and July both had 88%. Easter fell on April 20, which helped that month’s traffic, while July is, of course, during the peak summer, with greater onward demand via Dubai.
Where Emirates’ Gatwick Passengers Went
Booking data for January to July 2025 suggests that just over half of Emirates’ Gatwick passengers continued to another flight in Dubai. It was not more significant because the London-Dubai point-to-point market is enormous. When all airlines and London airports are considered, over 1.2 million passengers only went to/from the UAE destination in those seven months.
Emirates’ top 15 connecting country markets from Gatwick were India, Australia, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa, Malaysia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japan. The 15 most popular destinations were Bangkok, Sydney, Male, Denpasar/Bali, Melbourne, Kochi, Colombo, Phuket, Mauritius, Kuala Lumpur, Brisbane, Chennai, Dhaka, Hong Kong, and Mumbai.
