Emirates has resumed daily Airbus A380 services to Hong Kong, making it the first carrier to continue the superjet since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. The airline will resume the summer schedule for operating the stopover flight in Bangkok before terminating in Hong Kong.
After a year of the A380 flights to Bangkok, Emirates will now resume daily flights to the pearl of the orient in Asia. Flight EK384 took off at Dubai at 03:03 local time (2303z), a slight delay from the STD. After a 5hours 45 minutes journey, the flight has landed in Hong Kong at 17:30 local time (0930z) after 2 hours ground stop in Bangkok. The return journey has departed from Hong Kong at 21:48 (1348z), first touching down in Bangkok at 23:06 local time (1606z) and arriving in Dubai at 05:15 (0115z).
All passengers would receive a discount on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in Bangkok. The airline partner with the local medical groups in Bangkok and passengers must get a negative PCR test before getting onboard. Emirates’ fare will automatically be covered with COVID insurance, another first move of the airlines have since adopted.
Emirates has been a loyal supporter of the A380s, and the company is still proactively planning 380 into the master route planning. The airline expressed the idea of flying over 100 A380s and reintroducing the plane to its routes. Comparatively, other airlines are highly considering A380 retirement with the high operating cost.
The airlines resumed daily flights to -Amman route last week and replaced Boeing 777s with A380. It also operated the first A380 service to the brand-new airport of Jeddah.
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