Summary

  • Each A380 that lands in Sydney contributes AU$ 227 ($151) million in economic impact annually.
  • Emirates, Qantas, Qatar, and Singapore Airlines are the only carriers that operate the A380 to Sydney.
  • Sydney Airport sees 126 A380 per flight a week this July.

In the Australian state of New South Wales, Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) is one of the most connected airports in the country, alongside Perth (PER) and Melbourne (MEL); it is also one of the top three most visited airports down under, visited by the Airbus A380. According to a recent post by Sydney Airport on Linkedin, each double-decker aircraft that touches down in the Harbour City (Sydney) contributes AU $227 ($151) million in economic impact for the region while supporting over 2,100 jobs annually.

An aerial view of Sydney Kingsford Smith airport.

Photo: EQRoy | Shutterstock

The first Airbus A380 delivery took place in 2007 when it was welcomed by Singapore Airlines and operated its first scheduled passenger service to Sydney on October 25, 2007. From there, the variant’s popularity continued to rise until its peak between 2012 and 2017. Several international airlines added the double-decker to their fleet; however, since the pandemic, we have seen the number of operators almost half, with major carriers now including British Airways, Emirates, Qatar, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines among the predominant operators.

Sydney’s A380 operators

According to data from Cirium, an online aviation analytics company, Simple Flying decided to investigate Sydney Airport’s A380 operations more deeply and find out who the most frequent operator is. Who do you think it might be?

Emirates

The most well-known A380 operator, Emirates, has probably changed how we look at air travel. Its robust network and all-wide-body fleet have stretched to most corners of the globe, and it remains one of the only major airlines that has refrained from joining one of the three airline alliances. While Emirates operates over 100 Airbus A380 from its Dubai International Airport (DXB) hub, it also connects SYD to Christchurch, New Zealand.

A look at Emirates Sydney operations:

  • Seven daily departures to Christchurch, New Zealand

    • Representing 4,482,324 available seat miles (ASMs)
  • Seven daily arrivals from Christchurch, New Zealand

  • 21 daily departures to Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  • 21 daily arrivals from Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This represents a total of 13,587 weekly seats to and from Sydney, 28 touchdowns, and equally the same number of take-offs.

Qantas

The flying kangaroo is Qantas, Australia’s flag carrier. According to ch-Aviation, the airline has a fleet of seven active and two parked Airbus A380. It utilizes these aircraft between Singapore and Los Angeles from Sydney. Throughout the first week of July, Qantas will operate its A380 one flight per day between SIN and LAX respectively, which in numbers represents:

To

From

Frequency

Seats

Available seat miles

Sydney

Singapore

Once daily

3,395

13,264,265

Singapore

Sydney

Once daily

3,395

13,264,265

Sydney

Los Angeles

Once daily

3,395

25,418,365

Los Angeles

Sydney

Once daily

3,395

25,418,365

Today’s Qantas A380 operations are just a shadow of what they once were, with the carrier historically connecting Sydney with Hong Kong and Dallas with the double-decker. You can read more about this in the article below:

Related

Where Did Qantas Fly The Airbus A380 Before COVID-19?

Qatar Airways

A strict agreement with the Australian government binds Qatar’s services to Australia. The carrier is limited to 28 weekly roundtrip flights to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. However, it can circumvent this by operating ‘ghost flights’ to other uncapped cities, such as Adelaide. Perth and Sydney are the only two Australian airports that welcome the Qatar A380, and the airline follows this schedule:

Flight number

From

To

Departure time

Arrival time

QR908

Doha

Sydney

20:05

17:10

QR909

Sydney

Doha

20:45

04:55

Qatar Airways A380 landing

Photo: S Kozakiewicz I Shutterstock

Qatar deploys its A380 once daily between the city pairs, which represents 3,619 seats per week, or 27,815,634 available seat miles. The airline uses the flight to feed into its robust network of European and African destinations from its Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) hub. The airline has flown the route since March 2016.

Related

Examined: Qatar Airways’ Australia & New Zealand Network

How many of these routes were you aware of?

Singapore Airlines

The only Star Alliance carrier on today’s list is Singapore Airlines, the first airline to operate the Airbus A380, and its first A380 flight connected Singapore and Sydney in October 2007. Today, Singapore Airlines is tied with Qantas for the most A380 operations daily at Sydney Airport, providing a double daily service to Changi International Airport (SIN). While this route is deemed the shortest A380 route from Sydney, it still represents 6,594 seats weekly and 25,762,758 available seat miles (ASMs). Singapore Airlines operates flights with the Airbus A380 to five airports from SIN.

A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 flying in the sky.

Photo: Jarek Kilian | Shutterstock

For its inaugural A380 flight to Sydney, Singapore Airlines said that seats on the inaugural flight and the return flight between SIN and SYD were auctioned off, with the proceeds going to four charities: The Community Chest of Singapore, Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and Médecins Sans Frontierès (Doctors Without Borders).

From Changi, Singapore Airlines operates the below frequencies to these airports:

  • Twice daily to Sydney (SYD)
  • Twice daily to London Heathrow (LHR)
  • Once daily to Delhi (DEL)
  • Once daily to Mumbai (BOM)
  • Once daily to Frankfurt (FRA)

Have you flown on the A380 from Sydney Airport? Let us know in the comments.

Related

How Long Do I Need To Connect At Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport?

How much time is needed to transit in Australia’s most populous city?


  • Qantas-Emirates-A380-Sydney-Stunt-Getty

    Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

    IATA/ICAO Code:
    SYD/YSSY

    Country:
    Australia

    CEO:
    Geoff Culbert

    Passenger Count :
    44,446,838 (2019)

    Runways :
    07/25 – 2,530m (8,300ft) |
    16L/34R – 2,438m (8,000ft) |
    16R/34L – 3,962m (13,000ft)

    Terminals:
    Terminal 1 |
    Terminal 2 |
    Terminal 3

  • rsz_airbus_50th_years_anniversary_formation_flight_-_air_to_air

    Airbus

    Stock Code:
    AIR

    Date Founded:
    1970-12-18

    CEO:
    Guillaume Faury

    Headquarters Location:
    Toulouse, France

    Key Product Lines:
    Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380

    Business Type:
    Planemaker

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