Unusual Airbus A380 Routes: The World's Least-Served Superjumbo Flights In December

Ten scheduled airlines fly the Airbus A380: All Nippon, Asiana, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines. According to Cirium Diio, they will be deployed on 88 airport pairs and 93 routes globally.

The double-decker quadjet has been discussed in many ways recently. For example, Emirates briefly introduced the world’s new shortest superjumbo service, while Etihad will fly the type to Tokyo Narita for the first time. It is used on two of Australia and New Zealand’s longest nonstop routes, while Lufthansa plans to paint a frame in its special 100th anniversary livery.

The World’s Least-Served A380 Routes In December

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An average double-decker route has ten departing flights a week in the festive month. This is, of course, heavily influenced by the numerous multi-daily services, which are necessarily operated by Emirates and, to a far lesser degree, Qatar Airways and Etihad.

Discussion rarely exists about the least-served A380 markets. Cirium data indicates that six routes and five airport pairs have no more than nine departing flights in the whole of December. All of them involve airlines from East Asia or Australia, and all but two of them are short-haul.

The only long-haul examples are operated by Qantas. They include Singapore back to Melbourne. To cater to the higher demand, Qantas is temporarily flying its 485-seat A380s between its Victoria hub and Changi. Flights operate to Lion City between November 24 and 30, while they return to Australia between November 25 and December 1. That’s why it made the table.

They Include The World’s Shortest Commercial A380 Service

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On a great circle distance basis, Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita covers just 680 nautical miles (1,259 km) each way. Connecting two cities whose combined metro population totals over 60 million people, it is the world’s shortest passenger-carrying superjumbo service in December. It is served by Korean Air and, on one day only, Asiana.

Let’s focus on Korean Air. When all equipment is considered, the SkyTeam member has four daily departures on this airport pair. It also has one daily service from Incheon to Tokyo Haneda (much closer to downtown Tokyo) and three flights a day between Gimpo (much closer to downtown Seoul) to Haneda.

In total, Korean Air has eight daily passenger services between Seoul and Tokyo, totaling 248 services each way in December. Multiple aircraft types/variants are flown: the A321neo, A330-300, A380, 737-800, 737 MAX 8, 737-900, 787-9, and the 787-10.

Despite having just nine departures on the A380 in December, it is Korean Air’s highest superjumbo frequency to Tokyo Narita since December 2012. On Thursdays and Saturdays, KE703 leaves South Korea at 9:55 am, and KE704 arrives home at 4:40 pm.

Related

More Aircraft, More Routes: Where Etihad Airways Will Fly The Airbus A380 Next Year

The carrier now plans up to seven daily superjumbo departures next summer, but that’s still lower than previously.

The List Involves The World’s 6th Longest Nonstop A380 Flight

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

At 6,883 nautical miles (12,747 km) on a great circle basis, Qantas’ Melbourne to Los Angeles A380 service is the world’s sixth-longest nonstop A380 operation. It covers more distance than Emirates’ flights between Dubai and Auckland, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and Qantas’ offering from Sydney to Dallas.

Qantas has used the 485-seat double-decker between Victoria and California since 2008. For multiple years, the type ran daily. However, a twice-weekly service remains. On Thursdays and Saturdays, QF94 leaves Melbourne at 10:50 pm and arrives in Los Angeles at 9:30 am local time two days later. Back to Australia, QF93 departs at 12 noon and arrives home at 7:25 am local time the same day.