Emirates Removes 2nd Daily Frankfurt A380 Service From Mid-May

Simple Flying

By Tom Boon

Published May 2, 2022

One of the daily services will be replaced by a Boeing 777 from the middle of the month.

Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

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Dubai based-giant Emirates is set to drop one of its twice-daily Airbus A380 flights to Frankfurt from mid-May. A single A380 rotation will remain, while the second will instead be served by the Boeing 777. The airline had previously intended to operate double daily A380 services on the route until the end of June.

Across the board, Emirates is increasing frequency and capacity on its routes as it looks to restore pre-pandemic capacity by 2023. However, it seems that this isn't the case for every destination, with some appearing to see their services downscaled in the coming months.

Emirates ditches second Frankfurt A380 service

According to schedule data from Cirium, Emirates has decided to cut its second A380 from the schedule a month and a half early. As of last Monday, the giant of the skies was set to visit Frankfurt Airport once a day from July 1st. This had now been cut to once daily from May 15th onwards.

Emirates faces competition against Lufthansa's Airbus A330 on the route. Photo: Cirium

It is the latter of the two rotations to Frankfurt that is being swapped for the lower capacity aircraft, with outbound flights operating on the following schedule,

EK45 - Dubai International Airport (DXB) 08:25 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 13:15 - Airbus A380 - 06h50m
EK46 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 15:15 - Dubai International Airport (DXB) 23:35 - Airbus A380 - 06h20m
EK47 - Dubai International Airport (DXB) 15:20 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 20:05 - Boeing 777 - 06h45m
EK48 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 22:20 - Dubai International Airport (DXB) 06:40+1 - Boeing 777 - 06h20m

The move comes six days after one of the two runways at Dubai International Airport is set to close for 45 days. While some airlines' services are being shifted to Dubai World Central, it doesn't look as though this drop in capacity is due to the runway work.

A third daily rotation is planned

While capacity will drop in both May and June due to the Airbus A380's removal from one of two rotations, the capacity will actually increase significantly in July. From July 1st, Emirates will add a second Boeing 777 rotation to the route, giving three rotations in total. EK45 and EK47 will continue as listed above. The third rotation will operate as follows,

EK43 - Dubai International Airport (DXB) 03:45 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 08:50 - Boeing 777 - 07h05m
EK44 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 11:00 - Dubai International Airport (DXB) 19:15 - Boeing 777 - 06h15m

An Emirates Boeing 777 wearing the year of the 50th livery performs a flyby at the 2021 Dubai Airshow.

The NCC will jump into action behind the scenes if an Emirates flight needs to make a diversion. Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

The third flight to Frankfurt isn't unusual for the route to Frankfurt and shows the continued recovery of demand. Until the pandemic, Emirates was operating all three flights each day most months, with the Airbus A380 typically down for two of the three rotations.

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When Dubai initially reopened its doors, Emirates was only flying the Boeing 777 on the route, though this quickly became twice daily in July 2020. Since May 2021, an A380 operated one of the two daily rotations, becoming double daily from November 2021.

Have you flown on the Emirates Airbus A380 between Dubai and Frankfurt? Let us know in the comments below!