UAE carrier Emirates has said that it will upgrade capacity on its Narita-Dubai route by deploying its flagship A380 starting November 15.
EK318 from Dubai will depart at 2.55am and arrive in Narita at 5.20pm. The return flight EK319 from Narita will depart at 11.30pm and arrive in Dubai at 5.30am the following day.
The move comes following a surge in demand for the route after Japan scrapped the daily arrival cap, and lifted the Covid-19 testing and self-quarantine protocols for inbound travel. Travellers from over 60 countries can travel to Japan visa-free and without having to sign up for guided tours.
Emirates said that it has seen a spike in bookings for flights to its Japanese gateways of Narita and Osaka following the lifting of the restrictions last month.
That in turn has led to the reintroduction of the A380 on this route. Meanwhile, the airline will continue to use its Boeing 777 to operate a daily service to Osaka via flights EK316/317.
It was reportedly the first airline to establish air connectivity between Japan and the UAE. This year, Emirates completes two decades of operations to Osaka’s Kansai International Airport.
Over the pandemic, the airline continued to transport essential air cargo between Japan and other global markets, which also helped to maintain the trade links that were needed via its Dubai hub.
The airline has been gradually ramping up the deployment of its A380. Currently, it is deployed to over 30 global destinations. It will start deploying the A380 on its Dubai-Bengaluru route for the first time beginning October 30. It will also resume rostering its superjumbo onto flights between Dubai and Perth later this year.
