The newest member of the Emirates Airbus A380 fleet has touched down in Frankfurt following its inaugural passenger flight. The aircraft was just delivered to the Dubai-based giant at the weekend.
News regarding the Airbus A380 and Frankfurt Airport has been largely negative of late. The last time Simple Flying visited was to say goodbye to a Lufthansa giant. With that being said, today’s visit was more one of celebration following the first passenger flight of Emirates’ and the world’s newest Airbus A380.
Welcome to Frankfurt A6-EVO
At the weekend A6-EVO flew from Airbus’ Hamburg Finkenwerder site to Dubai International Airport after Airbus handed over the metaphorical keys to the jet. According to data from RadarBox.com, the jet left Hamburg at 18:32 on Saturday. Following a seven hour and 13 minute flight, the aircraft arrived at its new home at 03:46 the next morning.
Following a short rest while entry to service checks took place, the aircraft boomeranged straight back to Germany, operating flight EK47 to Frankfurt as its first official duty. As such, the jet departed Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 14:36, four minutes ahead of schedule.
Having taken off, the plane quickly climbed to roughly 39,000 feet. After flying up the Persian Gulf, the aircraft crossed overhead Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Austria before arriving in the skies above Germany. The plane then descended down to land on Runway 07R at 18:54. This gave a total flight time of six hours and 18 minutes.
Having been delivered, the aircraft will remain the newest A380 for some time. The next giant of the skies is not due to be delivered to Emirates until 2023. Just three A380s are left to be delivered by Airbus, all to Emirates. That means that by this time next year the A380 program will sadly draw to a close. With a fleet of over 100 A380s, and no desire to retire brand new aircraft, Emirates is expected to continue flying the jet into the mid 2030s.
About the new aircraft
According to data from ch-aviation.com, A6-EVO is already 0.73 years old, having taken its first flight on October 1st, 2020. The aircraft is a relatively rarity in the Emirates fleet. That is to say that it is one of just three aircraft that currently has a premium economy cabin installed.
As such, the jet has 484 seats spread across four cabins. The best seats in the house, at the front of the upper deck, are the first class seats. Here, passengers will find 14 suites laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration.
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Just behind is the business class cabin with 76 seats, again in a 1-2-1 configuration. Moving downstairs we see why this aircraft is special. At the front of the aircraft are 56 premium economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. They have a pitch of 40 inches (101.6 cm). Finally. Taking up most of the lower deck is 338 economy class seats in a 3-4-3 configuration. These seats have pitches between 32-34 inches (81.3 to 86.4 cm).
What do you make of A6-EVO’s first flight? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!