Emirates will fly the Airbus A380 to Mumbai from July, meaning UK travellers can experience the double decker throughout both legs of their journey.
The upgrade, on one of the frequencies flown either by the current Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 services, follows the relaxation of rules by Indian authorities that restricted the use of larger aircraft in order to protect the country’s home airlines.
In a statement to Indian news site livemint.com, the airline said: “Emirates plans to deploy an A380 on one of its existing daily services between Dubai to Mumbai, starting from July and is working closely with Mumbai Airport authorities to make this deployment possible.
“In addition, we have plans to upgrade existing aircraft to larger capacity Boeing 777s to Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai starting from June 1.”
In 2013/14, Emirates introduced A380 services to Barcelona, Brisbane, Gatwick, Los Angeles, Mauritius and Zurich, bringing to 27 the total number of destinations served by its popular flagship aircraft.
Singapore Airlines will use the A380 from May 30 to both Delhi and Mumbai.
Gary Noakes
