Lufthansa has confirmed where the A380 will (initially) fly: from Munich to Boston on June 1st and New York JFK on July 4th. And Emirates has added Bali to its A380 network. This raises the obvious question: of the 58 airports to see the double-decker quadjet this northern summer, which – aside from Dubai – has the most destinations?

Top 10 A380 airports by routes

The northern summer season runs from March 26th until October 28th. Aside from Dubai (obviously the home of Emirates), London Heathrow will have more A380 routes in this period than any airport, as shown in the table below.

Some 12 airports see the A380 from Heathrow. In order of summer flights, they are Dubai, Singapore, Doha, Johannesburg, Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington Dulles, San Francisco, Sydney (via Singapore), Chicago O'Hare, Boston, and Abu Dhabi. The latter is with Etihad, which is returning the A380 to service. It is one of six A380 operators serving Heathrow – more than any other airport.

Etihad Airways Airbus A380
Photo: Fasttailwind I Shutterstock.

More interesting is Sydney. Served by five A380 airlines, it is the second most diverse airport for the type. There are eight destinations. Ordered by flights, they are Singapore, Dubai, Doha, Heathrow (via Singapore), Christchurch (Dubai via Sydney), Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Seoul. However, they're down from a high of 14 destinations in 2016-2018.

Click here for Sydney-Singapore flights.

The table

The following table summarizes what's happening this summer. Using OAG to examine schedules in summer 2023 versus 2019 reveals that the most significant change is the absence of Paris CDG, which then ranked fourth globally with 13 destinations – more than Heathrow now.

Air France Airbus A380-861 F-HPJG-1
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

It was, of course, mainly because of Air France, which has retired the quadjet. Yet CDG had seven A380 operators in 2019, down to just two now: Emirates and Singapore Airlines, the latter scheduled to appear just once (October 18th).

Airport

A380 destinations*

Avg daily departures^^

Airline(s)

Dubai

49**

72

Emirates, British Airways

London Heathrow

12

20

British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines

Singapore

11***

12

Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas

Sydney

8

8

Emirates, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Asiana

Seoul Incheon

7

6

Korean Air, Asiana, Emirates

New York JFK

6^

5^^

Emirates, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines

Bangkok

4

6

Emirates, Asiana, Qatar Airways

Doha

4

4

Qatar Airways

Frankfurt

4

2

Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Asiana

Hong Kong

4

3

Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas

* As of March 26th ** Including Denpasar Bali *** Incl. Paris one-off on October 18th. Falls to 9 destinations in mid-May ^ Reduces to four in mid-May but rises to five in early July

^^ Across the whole summer. Can vary per day

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JFK in the table, LAX out

Aside from no Paris CDG, there is also no Los Angeles. In summer 2019, LAX had eight A380 destinations and ranked ninth globally. It had flights from Seoul, Paris CDG, Dubai, Melbourne, Sydney, Guangzhou, and Heathrow, along with nine rotations from Frankfurt. Four years on, it has three routes: Seoul, Dubai, and Sydney.

Click here for Los Angeles-Dubai flights.

Emirates Airbus A380
Photo: Lukas Wunderlich I Shutterstock.

LAX is out, but JFK is in, the only North America airport to feature in the top 10 table. It has jumped from 11th place in 2019 to sixth. While it had nine routes as recently as 2018, it now has six: Dubai, Seoul, Milan Malpensa (to/from Dubai), Frankfurt (to/from Singapore), Singapore (via Frankfurt), and soon Munich.

Click here for JFK-Munich flights.

Alas, JFK's ranking by destinations will fall: Singapore Airlines' last A380 service to JFK is on May 15th, after which its one-stop via Frankfurt switches to the 777-300ER. The arrival of Lufthansa from Munich on July 4th will somewhat remedy it.

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.