Emirates is by far the world’s largest operator of the A380 (they have almost half of the world’s A380s on order), so their threshold for sending an A380 to a destination is much lower than at some other carriers, which have to be much more selective.
That’s why I’ve always found it odd that Emirates doesn’t fly the A380 to Johannesburg, given that Air France, British Airways, and Lufthansa do. You’d think it’s a pretty big market for Emirates, given that they have four daily flights. But I guess that frequency is more important than aircraft type to them, given that they exclusively use 777-300ERs on the route.
That’s about to change. It has just been announced that Emirates will begin flying the A380 between Dubai and Johannesburg as of February 1, 2017 for one of their daily flights.
Specifically, Emirates will operate an A380 for the following daily flight:
EK761 Dubai to Johannesburg departing 4:40AM arriving 10:55AM
EK762 Johannesburg to Dubai departing 1:25PM arriving 11:45PM
This is great news for just about all passengers. The A380 features an onboard shower for first class passengers, as well as fully flat beds and a bar for business class passengers, which aren’t available on the 777. The economy cabin is also more spacious on the A380 than on the 777.
A bit over a week ago I wrote about the incredible fares published out of Maputo, Mozambique, which allow you to fly Emirates first class at huge discounts. That fare has fallen even further since last time (at least when priced in USD, probably to an even more favorable currency conversion), and now you can fly first class from Maputo to Johannesburg to Dubai to Los Angeles for ~$2,330.
On top of that, both of the longhaul flights can now be operated by the A380, while previously one of them was operated by a 777. That means you get two onboard showers, rather than just one. 😉
Bottom line
The Emirates A380 is a real treat, and one of my favorite first class products in the world. It’s great to see Emirates finally send one of their many A380s to Johannesburg, an airport that has featured A380 service for a long time. This is a very nice upgrade for passengers in all classes of service.
(Tip of the hat to TheAirlineKid)
The first time I flew the A380 was LH F was an award....simply there and back a few days later, just to fly that new plane. But today, after I've flown A380 numerous times on various airlines--and if there was a flight at similar service for a lower price, I wouldn't pay more to fly the A380.
Looks like as of Aug1 this is now pricing way higher... too bad. Hopefully EK drops the price again. I'd love to take advantage just to fly in such blingy-ness.
The Emirates website shows EK762 (and all of its other flights from JNB to DXB) to be a 777 at the end of May 2017 (my preferred travel time). Is the A380 seasonal?
Nicco
Yes you can use your AMEX card to purchase and still get the chauffeur service. I recently flew a trip in Business to multiple locations and could get a car service at each location. Car perk was great! If you have the right card you can get double MR points for booking online.
One of the things I hate most about flights to/from that part of the world (Gulf, India, etc) are the crazy departure times. Even if I have a bed in F and can sleep on the plane, I hate those middle-of-the-night flights.
I know it all has to do with the positioning of planes and integration of the whole fleet, but ..... 4:40 am departure -- yuck!
@Maggie:
Position to JNB from? Where are you located?
Does one still quality for chauffeur service if booking the ticket through something like Amex Travel? Trying to decide whether or not to buy direct. Not sure if there is any advantage to booking these through one channel or another versus direct from Emirates. Guessing in a problem situation, Amex Travel might provide best service, but it's a refundable FC Emirates cash fare..... Not sure what there would be to worry about. Definitely want chauffeur...
Does one still quality for chauffeur service if booking the ticket through something like Amex Travel? Trying to decide whether or not to buy direct. Not sure if there is any advantage to booking these through one channel or another versus direct from Emirates. Guessing in a problem situation, Amex Travel might provide best service, but it's a refundable FC Emirates cash fare..... Not sure what there would be to worry about. Definitely want chauffeur service though.... Anyone?
How many miles for an award ticket from the US to JNB in FC, and which program is best?
A380 has less cargo space than the 777 which is why they stopped
Just flew the 777 and A380 from JNB - DXB - YYZ and I can agree that the Y cabin is MUCH better on the A380. Good swap.
EK was one of the first carriers to fly the 380 to JNB, and as Joey says they stopped at some point.
I believe LH currently flies the 747-8 in place of the 380, though I don't recall when that changed, but it was in the last 12 months or so.
Emirates flew the A380 to Johannesburg back in 2011. I was an EK gold back then and recall flying the EK A380 there from DXB. Thu must have stopped it at some point. Not sure why.
Lucky, any great ideas on how to position oneself to take advantage of that low fare??