UAE’s largest airline Emirates will start the first scheduled commercial Airbus A380 service to Istanbul, Turkey from October 1, as the carrier looks to increase its capacity following the reopening of international borders.
From next month onwards the travellers to and from Turkey will get the chance to regularly experience flying on this iconic double-decker jumbo jet.
Emirates will operate the A380 on its EK123/124 service. The EK123 flight will take off from Dubai at 10:45 AM and arrive in Istanbul at 14:25 PM. The return flight EK124 will depart Istanbul at 16:25 PM and arrive in Dubai at 21:50 PM. All times are regional.
In Airbus A380, UAE’s airline will provide 517 seats in total, with 14 private suites in first class, 76 mini pods with lie-flat seats in business class and 427 seats in economy class.
The A380 aircraft will help to boost Emirates’ capacity per flight by over 150 passengers compared to the current Boeing 777-300ER.
The aircraft offers passengers across all classes free access to Wi-Fi, seatback screens and the ‘ice’ inflight entertainment which currently hosts over 4,500 channels.
We are excited to finally bring our flagship to Istanbul to join many other top cities we currently serve with the A380. 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 and we would like to thank all our partners and stakeholders for their support in making this a reality.
Mr. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer
Meanwhile, Mr. Majid Khan, Vice President Aviation Development of iGA Istanbul Airport opined that, “Since we moved to our new home at Istanbul Airport on 6 April 2019, Emirates’ A380 entry is another milestone for us. I am proud that the world’s largest A380 operator, Emirates, will operate the Dubai-Istanbul route with their flagship, making it the first-ever A380 operation at Istanbul Airport and Turkey. This increase will help to boost traffic between our two nations. In the post-COVID-19 era, through Emirates’ extensive network, it will bring more inbound tourism to Istanbul and Turkey from currently unserved or underserved destinations.”
Emirates is the world’s largest operator of A380s, currently with 118 aircrafts in its fleet. The airline group has now slowly resumed passenger services and will be operating 17 weekly passenger flights from Dubai to Istanbul, including two daily flights and at three-time channels.
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