• Emirates, Airbus A380, Penultimate
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In mid-August, Emirates announced the reintroduction of its flagship Airbus A380 to Perth, scheduled for December 1st. However, passengers might get a seat on the superjumbo on the Dubai-Perth route much earlier than anticipated, as Emirates is bringing forward the reintroduction by a month, which sees the Airbus A380 returning on November 1st instead.

Currently, the UAE flag carrier operates daily flight services from Dubai to Perth using its Boeing 777-300ER fleet. With a 354-seat configuration, the Boeing widebody enables Emirates to offer approximately 2,478 seats weekly. However, demand for international travel out of Western Australia has been picking up, which then calls for Airbus A380s.

Barry Brown, Emirates Divisional Vice President for Australasia, said:

“Due to the consistently high demand for international travel out of Western Australia, we are thrilled that Perth will join our A380 network earlier than planned. We want to thank our Western Australian passengers for their loyalty. We are excited that from November, they will be able to enjoy our flagship A380’s signature amenities, industry-leading products, and generous space across all classes once again.”

Emirates is likely to operate its three-classed Airbus A380s configured with about 514 seats, enabling the airline to add an additional 160 seats per day compared to the Boeing 777-300ER. While it's unfortunate that Perth will not experience the airline's new premium economy cabin, unlike its fellow Australian cities, Sydney and Melbourne, it still gets to enjoy Emirates' in-flight showers and the iconic signature cocktail bar in premium cabins.

Emirates (Expo 2020 - Mobility Livery) Airbus A380-861 A6-EOC
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
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EK420 is scheduled to take off from Dubai at 02:45, arriving in Perth at 17:20 the same day. Then in the night, EK421 will depart from Perth at 22:20 and arrive back in Dubai at around 05:25 the next day. With the daily Airbus A380 flight operations replacing the Boeing 777-300ERs in November, Emirates will offer a weekly capacity of approximately 3,598 seats to Perth.

Want to see more of Emirates' premium economy cabin? Take a look at this flight review from the Simple Flying team.

Celebrating 20 fruitful years

The return of Emirates' flagship to Perth also comes as the airline celebrates 20 years of flying to the Australian city, offering unparalleled connectivity to Dubai and across its network since its inaugural flight in August 2002. The initial flights began with a four-times-weekly schedule and quickly grew into a daily flight service in May 2003 due to solid passenger demands on the route.

Then in February 2006, Emirates opened its first Perth lounge with approximately 585 square meters of space, accommodating just over 105 guests. The Emirates Lounge today is larger following a refurbishment, with a unique new feature of allowing passengers to board the Emirates flight directly from the lounge, similar to its Dubai offering. And upon recognizing the demand for premium offerings, Emirates introduced its signature first class Suites to Perth in March 2008.

An Emirates Airbus A380 taxiing to its assigned gate
Since its first flight in 2002, Emirates has flown nearly six million passengers on the Dubai-Perth route, flying more than 220 million kilometers on more than 24,000 flights. Photo: Emirates

Once the Airbus A380 entered Emirates' fleet, the airline subsequently scheduled superjumbo services to Perth, indicating the airline's continuous commitment to the Australian city. A6-EOE was the first commercially scheduled Airbus A380 that touched down in Perth on May 1s, 2015. Emirates SkyCargo has also contributed to Perth's economy, exporting meat, fruit and vegetables, and mining equipment across the airline’s global route network, including the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.

Bottom line

The return of the Airbus A380s to Perth frees up the airline's Boeing 777-300ERs for other routes and still boosts the capacity required for the high-demand Australian city. Though the anticipated return to Perth won't see the premium economy cabin, it's likely Emirates will eventually showcase them on the route, given the high passenger yield and the progression of the fleet's retrofitting.

However, the four-classed superjumbos do offer slightly fewer seats, which would have Emirates compromising on capacity. With daily flight services already scheduled, it'd be interesting to see how Emirates might make up for the lost capacity offerings.

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