Emirates now flies its Airbus A380 to Osaka

Emirates’ daily flights between Dubai and Osaka are now operated by its double-decker Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft, giving premium passengers both a business and a first class cabin to choose from along with access to the aircraft’s Onboard Lounge.

The inaugural A380 flight to the Kansai region city arrived on Sunday, joining Emirates’ Tokyo Narita service as the only other Japan routes operated by the airline’s superjumbo.

Emirates first began flying to Osaka in April 2004 and since then has carried an estimated 2.6 million passengers on the route. The A380 will give Emirates some 38 per cent additional capacity between Dubai and Osaka.

“Osaka is a significant gateway for Emirates in Japan and this capacity increase allows us to extend our A380 service to passengers who appreciate an unrivalled travel experience,” said Thierry Antinori, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Emirates.

Premium passengers notably have the option of 76 fully flat mini-pod business class seats on the A380 – located on the main deck – along with 14 first class private suites on the upper deck. The latter also come with shower facilities.

Both business and first class passengers are also able to make use of the A380’s Onboard Lounge, along with being provided a Japanese dining service.

The outbound flight from Dubai departs as EK316 in the early hours of the morning, arriving in Osaka mid-afternoon, while the return EK317 flight takes off from Osaka just before midnight and lands back in Dubai early the following morning.

A full schedule for the service is as follows (all times local):

Along with Osaka, Emirates also began deploying its A380 on its flights to Hamburg as of Monday.

The airline currently has 105 A3580s in its fleet serving 50 different destinations.