Emirates to go all A380 to Sydney by November, plans return to Adelaide

• Airline upgrades third daily Sydney flight with double-decker, translating into nearly extra 2,000 available seats a week 
• Plans restart of services to Adelaide in conjunction with A350 delivery rollout

DUBAI, UAE 12 September 2023: Further building on its commitment to provide customers expanded access to its route network, Emirates has announced that it will be upgrading its services to Sydney to an all-A380 operation. With all three of Emirates’ slots already in use at Sydney airport, the airline is able to commit nearly 2,000 extra weekly seats with the upgrade to its double-decker aircraft on its third daily flight, starting 4 November 2023.

The Emirates A380 service, set in a three class configuration offering 489 seats, will replace the Boeing 777-300ER currently being deployed on EK 416 and 417. Each return flight adds more than 260 extra daily seats and more connection opportunities to and from Dubai, and  global access to popular onwards destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The third A380 service will complement the two other Sydney A380 four-class services, which both offer Emirates’ latest Premium Economy cabin. 

Emirates currently operates 63 weekly services to Australia, offering close to 56,000 seats to and from its four major gateways. Melbourne and Sydney operate three times daily, Brisbane is served with double daily flights, and the airline also operates its flagship A380 daily to Perth. Emirates has also reintroduced services from Melbourne to Singapore, in addition to connecting Sydney with Christchurch, offering travellers the only A380 experience across the Trans-Tasman.

Return to Adelaide

The introduction of the Emirates Airbus A350 in the summer of 2024 will facilitate further expansion of the airline’s global network by allowing its fleet to grow and freeing up more of Emirates’ long-range aircraft to serve points like Adelaide. The airline is in close discussions with Adelaide Airport to recommence nonstop services as part of its commitment to reconnect travellers from every corner of Australia to its network.

The third Sydney A380 flight will depart from Dubai at 2130hrs, arriving in Sydney at 1820hrs local time. The returning flight departs Sydney at 2110hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0430hrs local time.

Emirates continues to expand the deployment of its flagship A380 to meet ever increasing travel demand globally. Today, the airline flies its flagship A380 to over 50 destinations, with more cities set to welcome the aircraft in the coming months.

Emirates bookings can be made on emirates.com, the Emirates App, or via both online and offline travel agents.