Think of the A380 and you’ll probably think of Emirates. The airline has operated the type to 73 airports since 2011, and on a peak day in 2019 it had 90 A380 departures from Dubai.
Emirates has used its A380s to 73 airports in the past decade. Photo: Getty Images.Emirates is the king of the A380. From 2011 to 2021, it had just under half of the world’s A380 capacity, with 193 million of the 398 million seats by all airlines. In contrast, Singapore Airlines – the second-largest user of A380s – had just 43 million, nearly four-and-a-half times fewer than Emirates, analyzing OAG data reveals.
If the past decade is combined, Amsterdam was Emirates’ 13th-largest A380 route. Photo: Getty Images.A core part of Emirates’ fleet
The A380 has been an increasingly important part of Emirates’ fleet. In 2011, when the full-service airline had eight types and models of passenger aircraft in service, the A380 had 13% of its total capacity. Come 2019, that had risen to 41%, helped by Emirates’ fleet simplifying around the B777-300ER, B777-200LR, and A380.
The simplification of Emirates’ fleet is very plain to see. Source: OAG Schedules Analyzer.73 routes since 2011
Since 2011, Emirates has used the A380 to some 73 airports and 44 countries around the world. The vast majority were normal scheduled services, including to Muscat, some 217 miles away. It had up to two A380 flights a day. It also used the type to Doha, 235 miles away, ending with the Qatar blockade in 2017.
Alongside scheduled services were a good handful of one-off flights or those operated for a minimal time only. Emirates used the A380 to Chicago in 2016, while Beirut received it in 2018.
Some 14 airports have seen Emirates’ A380 on a one-off or very limited-time basis since 2011. Image: GCMap.Top-10 routes
If 2011-2021 is combined, Emirates’ top-10 A380 routes are as follows, with only two – Heathrow and Bangkok – having over 10 million seats each. Between all 10, they had over 90 million seats or 47% of Emirates’ total A380 capacity, showing how important they have been.

Heathrow: 18.5 million two-way seats
Bangkok: 10.7 million
New York JFK: 9.3 million
Paris CDG: 8.9 million
Hong Kong: 8.6 million
Auckland: 7.4 million
Jeddah: 7.1 million
Sydney: 7 million
Manchester: 6.9 million
Gatwick: 5.8 million

Simple Flying recently showed that Emirates will use its A380s on 18 routes this summer, with Heathrow number-one. But this has now risen to 20, a far cry from the 57 served in 2019, but at least it is heading in the right direction. Amman will be resuming.
Emirates’ top-10 A380 destinations between 2011 and 2021. Image: GCMap.UK, USA, Australia
Emirates has used the A380 on a scheduled basis to five UK airports. With three in the top-10, joined by Birmingham (coming in at 28th) and Glasgow (58th), it’s no surprise that the UK is by far the top A380 country with over 33 million seats. Next is the US (17.6 million) and Australia (16.1 million).
On July 27th, 2019, Emirates had two departures to Munich at 08:50 and 16:30. Photo: Getty Images.A day in the life of Emirates’ A380s
On July 27th, 2019, Emirates had 90 A380 departures scheduled from Dubai, as shown below. Seven airports had three+ daily flights, including JFK (two non-stop and one via Milan). But Heathrow led with six at 02:30, 07:45, 09:40, 11:25, 14:15, and 15:45.

Emirates from Dubai to…
Departure time
 
 

Jeddah
0145

Sydney
0215

Washington
0220

Heathrow
0230

Mauritius
0235

Tokyo Narita
0240

Melbourne
0240

Perth
0245

Gatwick
0245

Shanghai Pudong
0250

New York JFK
0250

Bangkok (continuing to Hong Kong)
0250

Osaka
0300

Manchester
0300

Singapore
0305

Kuala Lumpur
0310

Hong Kong
0315

Toronto
0330

Taipei
0340

Seoul
0340

Bangkok
0340

Beijing
0355

Paris CDG
0405

Johannesburg
0405

Jeddah
0655

Manchester
0725

Casablanca
0725

Birmingham
0735

Madrid
0740

Heathrow
0745

Glasgow
0750

Gatwick
0800

Amsterdam
0805

Boston
0815

Barcelona
0815

Paris CDG
0820

Copenhagen
0820

Muscat
0825

Frankfurt
0825

New York JFK
0830

Düsseldorf
0830

Prague
0835

Zurich
0840

Nice
0845

Munich
0850

Vienna
0855

Los Angeles
0855

Sao Paulo
0905

San Francisco
0910

Rome
0910

Singapore
0920

Shanghai Pudong
0935

Houston
0935

Heathrow
0940

Bangkok
0940

Milan Malpensa (continuing to JFK)
0945

Melbourne
1005

Mauritius
1005

Johannesburg
1005

Hong Kong
1005

Auckland
1005

Sydney (continuing to Christchurch)
1015

Guangzhou
1020

Kuala Lumpur
1025

Brisbane
1035

Beijing
1050

Heathrow
1125

Amman
1400

Heathrow
1415

Düsseldorf
1420

Madrid
1430

Manchester
1435

Paris CDG
1440

Frankfurt
1440

Amsterdam
1445

Gatwick
1455

Birmingham
1455

Hamburg
1510

Zurich
1535

Milan Malpensa
1545

Heathrow
1545

Barcelona
1545

Jeddah
1600

Muscat
1610

Athens
1620

Munich
1630

Riyadh
1850

Kuala Lumpur
2115

Mumbai
2155

Bangkok
2230

The UK had 15 departures in all, including the above six plus three each to Gatwick and Manchester, two to Birmingham, and one to Glasgow. Indeed, Europe had 41 departures involving 21 airports.

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