Dubai doubles world’s shortest A380 flight

By Eudore R. Chand

DUBAI 3 July 2019: Emirates has doubled its daily A380 services to Muscat. Flights EK 862 and EK 864 were each welcomed with water cannon salutes upon arrival, ushering in the new services to Oman’s capital, Muscat.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations Centre, said: “The incredibly popular Emirates A380 has arrived in Oman and we are pleased to give our customers travelling between Muscat and Dubai the opportunity to experience the iconic products and services on this aircraft.”

Sheikh Ayman Bin Ahmed Al Hosni, CEO of Oman Airports, said: “We at Oman Airports are proud of Muscat International Airport which became the embodiment of the hospitality and warmth of the Sultanate of Oman… We are pleased, at Oman Airports, to welcome the launch of Emirates A380 flights, which comes one year after the first one-off A380 flight that marked 25 years of operations between Muscat International Airport and Emirates.”

Shortest A380 flight fun facts

The Muscat A380 flights will fly approximately 340 kilometres each way, making them the shortest A380 flights in the world. That is also shorter than the internal wiring of the A380, which when stretched from end to end reaches a distance of over 500km.

The double daily A380 operations underscore Muscat International Airport’s modern infrastructure and readiness to handle aircraft operations. Over 4.7 million passengers have flown on Emirates between Muscat and Dubai since 1993, equal to the capacity of more than 9,000 Emirates A380s.

Both A380s flying to Muscat will be operated in a three-class configuration, with 429 seats in Economy Class on the lower deck, and 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 14 First Class Private Suites on the upper deck.

Passengers travelling across all three classes will enjoy the airline’s award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice. With over 1,500 films across all genres to enjoy on ice, customers will have to fly over 3,000 times between Dubai and Muscat on the Emirates A380 to watch the complete ice film catalogue.

Over 25,000 catering items are loaded on the Emirates A380 for services between Dubai and Muscat, ensuring that customers can enjoy and savour the meals and amenities onboard.

The flight time between Dubai and Muscat, approximately 40 minutes, is 5 minutes longer than the time taken to clean an A380 by a team of 42 people. The twice daily A380 services operate on EK 862/863 and EK 864/865.

K862 departs Dubai at 0825hrs, arriving in Muscat at 0940hrs. The return flight, EK 863, departs Muscat at 1115hrs, arriving in Dubai in the afternoon at 1225hrs. Emirates’ late afternoon flight EK 864 departs Dubai at 1610hrs and arrives in Muscat at 1725hrs. EK 865 departs Muscat at 1905hrs, arriving in Dubai at 2015hrs. Along with the A380 services, EK 866/867, the early morning flight, is operated with Emirates’ modern Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Emirates has carried over 150,000 tonnes of cargo between Muscat and Dubai since 2008, which is more than the weight of 260 A380s when each aircraft is at its maximum weight.

Emirates operates three daily services between Dubai and Muscat, connecting passengers to over 150 global destinations in the Far East, Europe and the US. The airline is the world’s largest operator of the A380, with 111 double-decker aircraft flying to 57 cities from Dubai.