Emirates Airline will place the Airbus A380 on one of its two daily Dubai (DXB)-Istanbul (IST) flights from Oct. 1, marking the first time the extra-large aircraft will fly to Turkey.
“The A380 … will bring the total weekly capacity on the [DXB-IST] route to 7,000 seats in each direction,” Emirates noted in a statement.
The Emirates A380 features 517 seats, with 14 “private suites” in first class, 76 lie-flat seats in business class and 427 seats in the economy cabin. The aircraft will increase DXB-IST capacity per flight by more than 150 passengers compared to the Boeing 777-300ER currently flying the route.
"We are excited to finally bring our flagship to Istanbul to join many other top cities we currently serve with the A380,” Emirates chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim said.
“Since Emirates started operating to Turkey 34 years ago, we have carried six million customers on more than 23,000 flights. Bringing the A380 service to Turkey is a major milestone for Emirates.”
IST VP-aviation development Majid Khan added: “I am proud that the world’s largest A380 operator, Emirates, will operate the Dubai-Istanbul route with their flagship [aircraft], making it the first ever A380 operation at Istanbul Airport and Turkey. This increase will help to boost traffic between our two nations.”
Emirates is by far the world’s largest operator of A380s, with 118 in its fleet.
Photo credit: Rob Finlayson
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