EMIRATES celebrated its first Airbus A380 arrival in Melbourne followed by its first A380 service between the Victorian capital and Auckland.
The A380, operating as EK406, one of the three daily Emirates flights to Melbourne, departs Dubai at 1010hrs (local time) and arrives in Melbourne at 0535hrs the following day.
The flight continues to Auckland, departing Melbourne at 0710hrs and arriving in Auckland at 1345hrs. The return flight, EK407, departs Auckland at 1850hrs, arriving in Melbourne at 1950hrs, before leaving for Dubai at 2125hrs arriving at 0525hrs the next day.
Emirates has been serving Melbourne since 1996 and the introduction of the A380 – which includes Private Suites and Shower Spas in First Class, flat-bed seats, all with aisle access, in Business Class and generous seating on the main deck in Economy Class – increases Melbourne’s capacity on the Dubai and Auckland sectors by more than 500 seats per day.
The launch marks the start of an exciting period of growth for Emirates in Australia, with non-stop flights to Adelaide starting on November 1 followed by a third daily flight to Perth from December 1, while the recently announced Global Aviation Partnership with Qantas – pending regulatory approval – will enable travellers to enjoy seamless connectivity across the Emirates and Qantas networks, along with a number of other benefits.
Passengers in all classes can enjoy Emirates’ award-winning ‘ice’ Digital Widescreen, the industry’s most sophisticated video and audio system, offering 1,400 channels of on-demand entertainment – the largest selection of programming in the sky.