Muscat: Emirates will deploy double daily A380 flights from Muscat starting July 1. Muscat will become Emirates’ shortest scheduled A380 flight, flying a distance of 340km each way.
The airline will operate the A380 EK 862/863 and EK864/865 to and from Muscat International Airport (MCT).
"We are pleased to acknowledge the efforts of the operations team at Muscat International Airport and the business operations unit to develop these well established relations with Emirates," Oman Airports said in a statement.
"Oman is an important destination for Emirates, and we will continue to look at ways to grow our operations in the market to best serve our customers. We thank Muscat International Airport and the government authorities for their support in making the A380 double daily operations happen,” Emirates said.
Sheikh Aimen bin Ahmed Al Hosni, CEO, Oman Airports said: “From its side, Muscat International Airport has demonstrated its readiness for this extraordinary event, and the arrival of these scheduled flights for this giant aircraft is a gain to prove the large airport capacity to accommodate an aircraft of this size.”
The launch of the A380 flights will come exactly one year after the first deployment of a scheduled one-off A380 service that marked 25 years of operations to Oman, and reaffirmed the airport’s infrastructure readiness to handle double-decker operations.
The twice daily A380 services will replace EK 862/863 and EK 864/865. Emirates morning flight, EK 862, will depart Dubai at 8:25 am, arriving in Muscat at 9:40am. The return flight, EK 863, will depart Muscat at 11.115 am, arriving in Dubai in the afternoon at 12:25pm.
Emirates late afternoon flight EK 864 will depart Dubai at 04:10 pm and will arrive in Muscat at 5:25 pm.
EK 865 will depart Muscat at 07.05 pm, arriving in Dubai at 08: 15pm. Flight timings will vary slightly with the commencement of the winter schedule in late October.
Both A380s flying to Muscat will be operated in a three-class configuration, with 429 seats in Economy Class on the lower deck, as well as 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 14 First Class Private Suites on the upper deck. Passengers travelling across all three classes will enjoy the airline’s award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice, offering more than 4,000 channels of entertainment, and savour regionally inspired meals.
Emirates has been flying to Oman since 1993, and today operates three daily services utilising the Boeing 777-300ER between Dubai and Muscat.
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