Summary
- The shortest A380 flight is just 465 nautical miles (862 km) and is operated by Asiana.
- Emirates between Dubai and Jeddah is the shortest route with the most services.
- Singapore Airlines will resume double-decker service to Hong Kong in June.
The Airbus A380’s first passenger-carrying flight took place in October 2007, with Singapore Airlines using the type to Sydney. Nearly 17 years later, Singapore Airlines is one of 10 A380 operators, joining All Nippon, Asiana, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, and Qatar Airways. OAG shows that the average A380 flight between May and September covers 3,607 nautical miles (6,680 km).
The 10 shortest A380 services
Organized by the Great Circle distance, they are summarized in the following table. Asiana operates the shortest route between Seoul and Osaka. While the following article, which was researched and written in April, showed six one-way flights, nine are now scheduled and bookable (on Asiana’s website).
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The table includes Singapore Airlines’ return to Hong Kong in June. The superjumbo operated until March 31, 2024, and the plan was for it to return in October. However, in early March, its resumption was moved to June. In doing so, it pushed Emirates between Dubai and Bengaluru to 11th.
As always, things may change. The maximum block time refers to either direction and at any point between May and September, even if just once.
|
Nautical miles (km) |
Max block time |
Routing |
Airline |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
465 (862) |
2h 00m |
Seoul Incheon-Osaka Kansai |
Asiana |
Just nine flights: May 5 and 6; June 9; August 17 and 18; September 14, 15, 17, 18 |
|
472 (874) |
2h 20m |
Dubai-Riyadh |
Emirates |
Daily |
|
680 (1,260) |
2h 30m |
Seoul Incheon-Tokyo Narita |
Asiana |
Four weekly in May and June and daily from July onwards |
|
911 (1,688) |
3h 15m |
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Hong Kong |
Emirates |
Daily; fifth freedom service |
|
919 (1,701) |
3h 20m |
Dubai-Jeddah |
Emirates |
Triple daily |
|
1,041 (1,928) |
3h 05m |
Dubai-Mumbai |
Emirates |
Daily |
|
1,093 (2,024) |
3h 15m |
Dubai-Amman |
Emirates |
Daily |
|
1,150 (2,129) |
3h 20m |
Sydney-Christchurch |
Emirates |
Daily; fifth freedom service |
|
1,306 (2,419) |
3h 50m |
Dubai-Cairo |
Emirates |
Triple daily |
|
1,379 (2,555) |
4h 15m |
Singapore-Hong Kong |
Singapore Airlines |
Daily; flights on the double-decker resume on June 10 |
A look at Dubai-Jeddah
Dubai to Jeddah has triple daily Airbus A380 flights, the shortest, most-served double-decker route. Except for four dates in June when the Boeing 777-300ER is deployed, Emirates only uses the A380 on passenger flights to the Saudi Arabian airport. The type was first used there in 2010.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
When all airlines are combined, booking data shows Dubai-Jeddah had about 1.46 million roundtrip point-to-point passengers last year, equivalent to 2,000 passengers daily each way. That’s just the local market, where Emirates had about one in four passengers.
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Fellow UAE operator Etihad returned the A380 to JFK recently.
More than half a million passengers transferred to another Emirates flight in Dubai. Unsurprisingly, Indonesia was the most demanded country, followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Myanmar, the UK, the US, the Philippines, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.
Jeddah-Jakarta was the leading origin-destination, driven by Umrah and other pilgrims and Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.
What’s your shortest flight on the type? Let us know in the comment section.