Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, will operate the first commercial Airbus A380 flight to Brazil and South America, when it takes the double decker aircraft on a one-off service to Guarulhos International Airport, Sao Paulo, on November 14.

The one-off service will mark the airline’s eighth year of operations in Brazil, which it began with daily flights between Dubai and Sao Paulo in October 2007.

Emirates also made history back then when it became the first airline to introduce non-stop direct flights between the Middle East and South America. Five years later, Emirates expanded its presence in Brazil with the start of a daily service between Dubai and Rio de Janeiro.

“The A380 is an iconic aircraft that continues to excite both our customers and aircraft enthusiasts, and therefore we decided to take it on a one-off service to Sao Paulo to celebrate our eighth anniversary. As Emirates is a global partner of Formula 1, we also wanted this historic flight to coincide with the Brazilian Grand Prix taking place on November 15 at the Interlagos motorsport circuit,” said Orhan Abbas, Emirates senior vice president, commercial operations, Latin America, Southern and Central Africa.

“While we don’t currently have plans to introduce the A380 on a scheduled basis to Sao Paulo, our Brazilian customers can still experience the Emirates A380 through seamless and convenient connections from our hub Dubai to more than 30 destinations across our network, including the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. We are excited to bring the aircraft to Sao Paulo, and would like to thank the Guarulhos International Airport Authorities and Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency for their support and assistance in making the necessary arrangements for the flight to take place,” he added.

The Emirates A380 is renowned for its First Class Private Suites and Shower Spas, as well as Onboard lounge for First Class and Business Class passengers to socialise or relax. Its three-class configuration features 14 private First Class Suites, 76 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 401 seats in Economy Class. Passengers across all cabins enjoy over 2,000 channels on Emirates’ award-winning Digital Widescreen inflight entertainment system, ice, and are able to stay connected to the Internet throughout their journey with free Wi-Fi access.

Emirates is the largest operator globally of the Airbus A380 with a fleet of 67 in service, and with a further 73 on order. The airline has scheduled A380 flights to 34 destinations around the world, which includes popular destinations for Brazilians such as Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Mauritius, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Kuwait.

To date, the airline has carried over 40 million passengers on the A380 since its launch in 2008. Its current fleet has visited 56 airports, flew over 630 million kilometres, and made 47,200 return flights. - TradeArabia News Service