Emirates’s A380 service to Heathrow to be triple daily from January

Emirates’ A380 services to London Heathrow are to become triple daily from 24 January 2012.

This means that three out of the airline’s five daily flights into Heathrow will be served by the comfortable superjumbo.

Emirates’ flagship aircraft will replace Boeing 777s on EK flight 029 from Dubai and on the return flight EK 030, adding capacity to one of the airline’s busiest routes.

“Given the popularity of Emirates’ A380s, I know this news will be well received by our customers flying between London Heathrow, Dubai and beyond. As these magnificent aircraft continue to join our fleet, we can offer more seats and choice in and out of high density points, while enabling a greater number of passengers to benefit from the Emirates’ A380 experience,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe and Russian Federation.

The airline brought its own brand of double decker, equipped with an Onboard Lounge and Shower Spas, to the British capital in December 2008. After supporting EK flights 001 and 002 between Dubai and Heathrow, EK 003 and EK 004 became A380 services in July of last year.

The giant aircraft, known for its quietness and spaciousness, offers 14 flat-bed First Class Private Suites with electrically operated doors, 76 fully-flat seats in Business Class - all with aisle access - all on the upper deck, while the lower deck has 427 comfortable contoured seats in Economy class, spread across four separate cabins.

Passengers in all classes can settle down to more than 1,000 channels of films, television programmes, music and games carried on the ice entertainment system.

A personal satellite phone is fitted to each seat, which also carries a seat-back SMS and email service, along with seat to seat calling and a “My USB” personal picture viewing facility.

The third A380 service into Heathrow is another major investment for Emirates in the UK, where it operates 105 weekly flights via six gateways; London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow.

In September of last year, Manchester, which is now a triple daily service from Dubai, became Emirates’ second UK gateway to be served by the superjumbo, replacing EK flight 017 and 018.

Emirates has a fleet of 17 A380s amongst a total fleet of 162 aircraft, flying to 116 destinations - now including Baghdad.