When it comes to the world’s largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, it is instantly synonymous with the Dubai-based UAE flag carrier Emirates, and its massive fleet of 100+ superjumbos. Considering the type accounts for a significant portion of the airline’s all-widebody fleet, which until recently only consisted of the A380s and Boeing 777s, this means quite a lot of the carrier’s flights are operated using the quadjet.
This article evaluates Emirates’ network schedule for the entire year of 2025, and identifies which destinations see the most flights operated by the A380s.
Heathrow Lands The Top Spot (2,190 Flights Each Way)
It is not surprising that London Heathrow Airport (LHR) sees the largest number of Airbus A380 flights from
Emirates, considering both LHR and the airline’s home,
Dubai International Airport (DXB), are among the world’s busiest airports. Indeed, the latter is consistently recognized as the busiest international airport in the world.
Furthermore, Airbus built the A380 to cater to hub-and-spoke operations, whereby the type connects major hubs such as LHR and DXB. By operating six daily A380 flights on the route, Heathrow sees the largest number of Emirates A380 flights within the airline’s network, with the schedule detailed in the table below.
Flight |
DXB – LHR |
Flight |
LHR – DXB |
||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Departure |
Arrival |
Departure |
Arrival |
||
EK 7 |
02:30 |
07:05 |
EK 8 |
09:05 |
19:10 |
EK 1 |
07:45 |
12:25 |
EK 2 |
14:25 |
00:25 (+1) |
EK 29 |
09:40 |
14:25 |
EK 30 |
16:50 |
02:45 (+1) |
EK 31 |
11:25 |
16:10 |
EK 32 |
19:50 |
05:50 (+1) |
EK 3 |
14:15 |
18:40 |
EK 4 |
20:40 |
06:35 (+1) |
EK 5 |
15:45 |
20:15 |
EK 6 |
22:15 |
08:05 (+1) |
Data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that these daily operations throughout the year accumulate to 2,190 flights in either direction. The route sees enough demand that British Airways also operates three daily flights, competing with Emirates, and the carrier has seasonally deployed its A380s on this route.
Emirates is also set to launch a 7th flight on the route, operated by the Boeing 777-300ER, which will operate 6 flights weekly during the IATA Winter season.
Bangkok Gets Second Place (1,413 Flights Each Way)
Emirates flies five daily flights to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), and three of the carrier’s services are consistently operated with the A380 (EK372/373, EK374/375, EK384/385). However, data from FlightRadar24 indicates that EK376/377 was briefly switched to being operated by the Boeing 777 during September for over a month, with A380 operations resuming on October 9.
Additionally, BKK is also one of Emirates’ new destinations to which the carrier has introduced its upgraded cabin this year, with the airline deploying its four-class A380s with its latest cabin starting this Summer. Furthermore, the airline also utilizes Bangkok as a stopping point on three of its fifth-freedom services.
Flight |
DXB – BKK |
Flight |
BKK – DXB |
||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Departure |
Arrival |
Departure |
Arrival |
||
EK 376 |
03:45 |
13:25 |
EK 377 |
02:40 |
06:00 |
EK 372 |
09:40 |
19:25 |
EK 373 |
21:05 |
00:50 (+1) |
EK 374 |
22:30 |
08:00 (+1) |
EK 375 |
09:55 |
13:25 |
EK 384 |
09:40 |
14:25 |
EK 385 |
01:35 |
04:45 |
Flight |
BKK – HKG |
Flight |
HKG – BKK |
||
Departure |
Arrival |
Departure |
Arrival |
||
EK 384 |
14:05 |
18:05 |
EK 385 |
21:30 |
23:45 |
Emirates’ daily service EK384/385 is operated by the A380 and connects Dubai with Hong Kong via BKK, complementing the airline’s two non-stop services between the two cities. The carrier’s 777 flights to BKK, since this summer, have continued onwards to Siem Reap in Cambodia (3 times weekly) and Da Nang in Vietnam (4 times weekly).
A Four-Way Tie For Third Place (1,095 Flights Each Way)
After Bangkok, there are four destinations across the Emirates network that see three daily A380 flights all year round: Sydney (SYD), Manchester Airport (MAN), Paris (CDG), and Cairo (CAI). From these destinations, Emirates faces competition on two routes, which are DXB – CDG (one daily Air France service) and DXB – CAI (four daily Egyptair services). It is also worth noting that Emirates’ three daily A380 services to CAI are complemented by a fourth daily flight, operated with Boeing 777s.
When it comes to onboard services, however, Sydney and Manchester are the only destinations among the four that are served by the carrier’s four-class A380s. Two of three SYD flights have a premium economy cabin (EK412/413 and EK414/415), while only one of the services to MAN (EK17/18) currently has premium economy.
Emirates’ services to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, fall just short of three daily A380 services, with the data showing that the carrier has rostered the Airbus A380 on 1,066 flights out of 1,095 flights scheduled this year, in either direction on this route. Despite such a short journey, the route sees four different carriers operating multiple daily flights: Emirates, flydubai, Saudia, and flynas.
Eight Destinations See Twice Daily Flights & More
From these eight destinations, six destinations see two daily A380 flights, accounting for 730 flights in either direction. These destinations include Amsterdam (AMS), Milan (MXP), Munich (MUC), Mauritius (MRU), Melbourne (MEL), and New York (JFK). It is worth noting that one of the DXB-MXP services continues onwards to JFK as a fifth-freedom service, so technically JFK sees three daily Emirates A380s.
The other two destinations in this category are Singapore (SIN) and London Gatwick Airport (LGW). SIN currently sees two daily A380 flights and two daily 777 flights. However, earlier in the summer, Emirates announced that for the winter season, a third daily service will be upgraded to utilize the four-class configured A380. As for Gatwick, one of the three daily services saw 777s being deployed earlier in the year, from January 15 to February 1, and from March 3 to July 10.
While the route currently sees three daily A380 flights, this is set to change again early next year when the capacity is scaled back to a single A380 flight complemented by two 777 services. Gatwick will also eventually see a fourth daily flight operated by Emirates’ Airbus A350-900 aircraft. By April 2026, the route will see two daily A380 services, along with a 777 and A350 service.
Daily Or Less
Over 30 routes have the A380 scheduled to operate exactly once a day for the entire duration of the year. However, there are four routes that see a second A380 operation at certain times of the year, while two destinations fall short of daily A380 flights. The four destinations that have the quadjet scheduled more than once a day are Moscow (DME), Brisbane (BNE), Johannesburg (JNB), and Rome (FCO).
In the case of DME, the airline operates three daily services, of which one is exclusively operated by the A380 and the second is operated by the 777. The third service sees the carrier switch between aircraft types throughout the year, resulting in up to two A380 flights a day at certain times of the year. As for BNE, the schedule shows that the two daily A380 flights will be cut down to a single daily A380 flight, complemented by a 777 flight.
JNB currently sees a single A380 flight along with three daily 777 services, but the carrier did have a second A380 service earlier in the year (EK761/762 until March 30). Schedule data for Rome shows that the aircraft type has been scheduled for 382 flights this year, which indicates that on 17 different occasions this year, a second A380 will be flown on the route. Two destinations are scheduled to see the Emirates A380 almost every day of the year: Denpasar (DPS) and Copenhagen (CPH).
Shanghai & Bahrain
The destinations with the least number of A380 operations this year will be Shanghai (PVG) and Bahrain (BAH), which are scheduled to see the aircraft type 98 times and three times, respectively, this year. Emirates serves Shanghai twice daily with the Boeing 777s, and earlier this summer, Emirates announced that it would be upgrading both services later in the year.
One service is being upgraded to the A380, and the other service is being upgraded to be flown using one of the airline’s retrofitted 4-class Boeing 777s. This announcement was made at a time when the carrier launched two new routes to mainland China this year, clearly indicating that Emirates sees China as an important market.
As for Bahrain, the carrier operates three daily flights, of which two are operated using the newest member of Emirates’ fleet, the Airbus A350, and the third by a Boeing 777. The airline also operates a fourth flight utilizing the 777, but only a few times a month. However, over the years, Emirates has operated the A380 to Bahrain on multiple occasions when the demand called for it, such as National Day holidays, to cater to the demand related to Eid Holiday travels, and more.
This year, one such occasion was the Bahrain Grand Prix, when the carrier operated a round-trip using the A380. Considering even the smallest of operations, this year, Emirates had scheduled an impressive grand total of 59,621 A380 flights across its network, accounting for over 30.8 million seats.