Business | Aviation
Emirates temporarily withdraws A380
Emirates, which put the A380 superjumbo into service on its Dubai-New York route on August 1, on Friday withdrew the plane citing engineering work.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 22:07 September 5, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- Emirates received its first double-decker plane in late July and is the only airline commercially operating the A380 to the US.
Dubai: Emirates, which put the A380 superjumbo into service on its Dubai-New York route on August 1, on Friday withdrew the plane citing engineering work.
The plane, which was scheduled to depart for New York on Friday, remained in Dubai.
The airline's services to New York have not been affected due to the plane's temporary withdrawal as the A380 has been replaced with a wide-body Boeing 777-300ER on the route.
"Our A380 was scheduled for training use in between commercial flights. There is also planned engineering work which is taking longer to complete than expected," an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News on Friday.
Emirates received its first double-decker plane in late July and is the only airline commercially operating the A380 to the US.
The thrice weekly service was launched with fanfare amid huge response from people looking for a flying experience in the world's largest passenger aircraft.
The airline spokesperson could not say if there were any booking cancellations from those who only wanted to fly on the A380.
"Our teams are working hard to minimise any inconvenience caused to our passengers," the airline said, adding that the plane will be "deployed on commercial service again as soon as possible."
Emirates is the biggest customer for the Airbus plane and will receive 57 more A380s over the next few years.
The Emirates A380 is equipped with shower spas and a lounge.
It is arranged in a three-class configuration, with 399 seats in Economy, 76 fully-flat seats in business class and 14 private suites in first class.
Emirates expects to receive five more A380s by April. The airline plans to use A380s to London Heathrow from December 1 and to Sydney and Auckland from February.
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