Emirates’ flagship aircraft, the Airbus A380, made its debut touchdown at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) on October 14, 2022.
The Superjumbo jet arrived in BLR two weeks before the launch of Emirates’ daily scheduled flights to India’s high-tech industry city, set to begin October 30, 2022.
Flight EK562 took off from Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 10:00 am October 14, 2022 and landed in BLR at 15:40 pm local time. The aircraft, carrying 224 passengers, was welcomed by aviation fans, media and special guests representing the aviation and travel industries.
A larger than life welcome for the largest passenger aircraft in the world! Emirates Airbus A380 has landed #BLRAirport for the first time marking another milestone for us.#Emirates #EmiratesA380 #A380 #AAIofficial #Airbus #Bengaluru #Dubai #Kempegowdainternationalairport pic.twitter.com/Evd6Lrp0hS
— BLR Airport (@BLRAirport) October 14, 2022
“Bengaluru has become the first city in South India to be served by Emirates’ flagship A380 services,” Satyaki Raghunath, chief strategy and development officer at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said in a statement.
Raghunath continued: “The arrival of this wide-body aircraft today shows the operational capability and rising passenger demand at BLR Airport.”
“India is a vast market with high demand for our services to destinations across our network, and we are especially pleased to extend our A380 offering to include an additional point in the country,” Adnan Kazim, chief commercial officer of Emirates said.
From October 30, 2022, EK 568 will depart Dubai at 21:25 local time using the A380, and will arrive the following day in Bengaluru at 02:30. The return flight, which starts on October 31, 2022, will see the A380 departing Bengaluru at 04:30 local time, and arriving in Dubai at 07:10 local time.
The daily A380 flights will be in addition to Emirates’ twice-daily flights to Bengaluru, which are currently being served using the airline’s Boeing 777-200LR and Boeing 777-300ER.