In response to the expected increase in the demand for seasonal air travel to Brazil in the early beginning of 2021, after almost 9 months of suspension, Emirates Airlines is set to operate its Airbus A380 wide-body on the Dubai – Sao Paulo route.
The Dubai-based air carrier will temporarily deploy the Airbus A380 jet on the Dubai – Sao Paulo route from January 9 until January 30, 2021. Despite that Emirates has already resumed the suspended operations to Brazil with its Boeing 777 aircraft in August 2020, the four weekly flights to Sao Paulo with the A380 jet will mark the returning of the iconic plane to South America operations after the long-period termination of passenger flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Emirates would try to attract passengers by offering “the spacious comfortable cabins” and “the unmissable signature products and services” on the iconic wide-body, including the onboard lounge and shower, which were reintroduced with “additional health and safety measures”, read in the air carrier’s statement. The airline outlined that following the strict hygiene protocols, it had reinstated the dining service across all classes in November 2020.
According to the Planespotters.com data, Emirates Airlines has a total of 116 Airbus A380 jets. While 99 Super Jumbo Jets are temporarily parked, the air carrier remains optimistic regarding the role of the A380 in the coming future. Back in November 2020, Tim Clark, the President of Emirates Airlines, predicted that the whole A380s fleet will return to active operations by 2021 or the first quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, in early December 2020, the airline took the first of three brand-new A380s. The aircraft was flown to the owner partially powered by sustainable aviation fuel. Emirates Airlines expects to take two more jets in April 2022 and May 2022.