Summary
- Emirates’ Airbus A380s will return to Barcelona between January 1st and March thirtieth.
- The sort will likely be on one among its two day by day services to the Spanish city, with Barcelona amongst 23 European destinations to see double day by day or more Emirates flights this winter.
- While Copenhagen, Hamburg, Nice, Prague, and Vienna saw the quadjet in January-March 2020, they now not achieve this 4 years later.
Spain’s second most populous city, Barcelona, will again see Emirates’ Airbus A380s. Interestingly, it is going to (for now) only operate until the tip of March, with it presently unclear if it is going to be prolonged to summer.
Back after almost 4 years
First seen on Aeroroutes and confirmed on Emirates’ website and in other booking engines, the A380 will return to Barcelona on January 1st.
Replacing the 777-300ER, the return will mark the primary time since March twenty second, 2020, that it used the quadjet there, based on Cirium data. Barcelona first saw Emirates’ A380s frequently in February 2014.
Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock
Three-class A380s (with economy, business, and first-class) will operate one among two day by day services, as scheduled below, with all times local (yes, EK185 out and EK188 back is correct):
- Dubai to Barcelona: EK255, 03:45-08:15 (777-200LR);
- Barcelona to Dubai: EK256, 15:10-00:35 (777-200LR),
Note that EK255/EK256 continues to/from Mexico City with fifth-freedom traffic rights. The A380’s 08:15 departure coincides with the carrier’s biggest inbound arrival bank of passengers from across Asia-Pacific, driving traffic volume.
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Where Barcelona passengers go
Examining booking data for the 12 months to September 2023 (when only 777s were used) shows that greater than 200,000 people transferred to other flights over Dubai. Around 550 people did so day by day, 3 times as many as got off in Dubai.
Photo: Fasttailwind | Shutterstock
The most well-liked origin and destination was Barcelona-Denpasar Bali, then Bangkok, Manila, Taipei, Delhi, Singapore, Sydney, Sialkot (Pakistan), Tokyo Haneda, and Mumbai. On the country level, India was, not surprisingly, primary.
These places still don’t see the A380
Using Cirium schedules data to match where the A380 flew in Europe in January-March 2020 versus what’s planned in the identical months in 2024 indicates that Copenhagen, Hamburg, Nice, Prague, and Vienna will still not see the kind. Furthermore, when writing on December fifth, none will see it this summer either. But things can change.
In contrast, Emirates didn’t use the equipment to Glasgow and Istanbul Airport in the primary three months of the pandemic-hit 2020. Glasgow’s last regular service was in September 2019, with a return in March 2023. Meanwhile, Istanbul saw its first Emirates A380 in October 2021.
Photo: Craig Russell | Shutterstock
Comparing the airports that see the A380 in those three months in 2020 and can achieve this next 12 months shows that Emirates has 2,472 departures from Dubai (each way), 14% lower than 4 years ago.
These have 30%+ fewer A380s services: Amsterdam, Birmingham, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan Malpensa, and Zurich. Of those with more, only Moscow Domodedovo (+88%), Rome (+30%), and Barcelona (+27%) stand out.
What do you make of all of it? Tell us within the comments.