Emirates has returned the Airbus A380 to Birmingham, last used there in March 2020. It’s certainly one of the assorted developments on the airport. Others include easyJet, expected so as to add 15 routes with its forthcoming based aircraft, and the July 2nd launch of Saudia from Jeddah. Qatar Airways resumes Birmingham flights on July sixth.
The A380 to Birmingham
Emirates serves Birmingham double every day: once every day using the Boeing 777-300ER and the opposite by the A380. While frequency stays down from the triple every day seen as recently as January 2018, the double-decker is now back.
The A380 resumed flying on July 1st, in time for the height summer, with essentially the most demand. As the next schedule shows, the quadjet leaves Dubai at 07:50, a part of the carrier’s largest Europe-bound departures bank. It returns after midnight, a part of the largest bank of European arrivals:
- Dubai to Birmingham: EK39, 07:50-12:30 (A380), EK37, 14:55-19:40 (777)
- Birmingham to Dubai: EK40, 14:40-00:45+1 (A380), EK38, 21:40-07:55+1 (777)
Curiously, the three,486-mile (5,610 km) route was expected to make use of Emirates’ two-class, non-first-class-equipped 615-seat A380s. Indeed, no first seats are bookable. Nonetheless, Flightradar24 shows the primary flight (on July 1st) used A6-EOH and the second A6-EEX, each first. The third flight (July third) used A6-EUQ, first. This could now proceed.
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The fifth UK airport to have the A380
Birmingham, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow, and Manchester all have A380 flights, just as they did before the pandemic took effect.
In August, the UK can have 199 weekly A380 flights (double for each ways). That is across all operators of the sort, not only Emirates. Comparing flights to August 2019 reveals that they continue to be down by 13%, the lack of 29 weekly departures:
UK airport |
A380 weekly flights: August 2019 |
August 2023 |
---|---|---|
Birmingham |
Double every day |
Each day |
Gatwick |
Triple every day |
Triple every day |
Glasgow |
Each day |
Each day |
Heathrow |
165 weekly |
150 weekly |
Manchester |
Triple every day |
Double every day |
Welcome, Saudia!
On July 2nd, Saudia inaugurated Jeddah to Birmingham. Served three weekly with the 787-9, Birmingham is the carrier’s fourth UK destination after Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester. Saudia began flying to Gatwick firstly of June.
Photo: Birmingham Airport.
In accordance with OAG data, 438,000 non-stop departing seats are on the market between the UK and Saudi this summer (double for each ways). That’s up by nearly two-thirds versus summer 2019 and by almost half (46%) over the previous record, held in summer 2014.
This coming August, there are 51 weekly flights across seven routes:
- Saudia: triple every day Riyadh-Heathrow (presumably to be operated by Riyadh Air in time, slot-depending)
- British Airways: every day Heathrow-Riyadh
- Saudia: every day Jeddah-Heathrow
- Saudia: every day Jeddah-Gatwick
- Saudia: five weekly Jeddah-Manchester
- Saudia: three weekly Jeddah-Birmingham
- Saudia: weekly Neom Bay-Heathrow
What other long-haul routes would you prefer to see from Birmingham? Tell us within the comments.