Emirates has confirmed that it will upgrade its capacity on flights to two German destinations. The airline will begin flying the Airbus A380 to both Dusseldorf and Hamburg during the month of October, meaning that all four of its German destinations will be served by the giant of the skies.

Emirates is limited to serving four destinations in Germany. Rather than flying to the Capital city, Berlin, the airline focuses elsewhere like many long-haul airlines. This sees the Dubai-based giant serving the country's leading aviation hubs in Frankfurt and Munich and some slightly smaller airports in Hamburg and Dusseldorf.

The giant of the skies is back

Many of Emirates' Airbus A380 aircraft have started their journey to Dubai at Airbus' Hamburg Finkenwerder plant in Germany. However, Hamburg hasn't seen a used Airbus A380 since March 2020. Dusseldorf also hasn't seen an Emirates A380 for this long, according to schedule information from aviation data experts Cirium.

This is set to change in October. Hamburg has a single Airbus A380 flight scheduled for October 31st when the IATA winter timetable enters effect. From November onwards, daily A380 flights are planned to Hamburg. Meanwhile, Dusseldorf has nine A380 rotations scheduled for October, with the first scheduled for October 23rd. The flight will operate daily, with double daily rotations scheduled on most dates in November.

From December onwards, the airline should be operating six Airbus A380 flights a day to Germany. This will consist of double daily Airbus A380 flights to Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, while Munich and Hamburg will maintain a daily A380 service.

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This means that as things stand, 186 Airbus A380 rotations are planned for Germany in December. Earlier this month, the airline revealed ambitions to up its Airbus A380 services to the UK after the UAE was downgraded on the UK government's COVID traffic light list.

Why not Berlin?

You may be wondering why Emirates doesn't want to fly to the German capital city? Emirates is only permitted to fly to four cities in Germany. As mentioned above, the airline already has four cities. It seems that previously Berlin wasn't in the best interest of the airline compared to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich. This was the message conveyed by the airline's CEO at a round table discussion during the 2019 Dubai Air Show.

That's not to say that Berlin has never seen an Emirates A380. According to aeroTELEGRAPH, the giant of the skies completed a touch-and-go at Berlin Brandenburg in late April. While the aircraft was wearing the Emirates livery, it technically wasn't an Emirates plane at the time. Instead, it was still undergoing flight testing under the Airbus test registration F-WWSS.

The touch and go comes after the airline's President, Tim Clark, told a local Frankfurt Newspaper that Berlin's absence from the Emirates network was noticeable in March 2021.

What do you make of Emirates' Airbus A380 plans for Germany? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!