Summary
- Emirates, British Airways, Korean Air, All Nippon, Qantas, Asiana, and Lufthansa will all use the A380 to the US this winter.
- British Airways has the highest number of daily flights and routes.
- The maximum number of daily departures, 20, is far below the winter record of 34, held almost seven years ago.
Seven of the world’s 10 Airbus A380 carriers will use the double-decker to the US between mid-November and the end of March. Between them, they have an average of 18 daily departing flights (double for both ways), based on the latest OAG data. As this is an average, it does vary somewhat per day. February 6th has the fewest flights (15), and December 7th and 9th the most (20).
Who’s flying where?
Analysis of schedules supplied by airlines to OAG indicates that the following will operate in the examined period. There are some periods, such as over Christmas, when particular routes do not see the type, but I have stated the typical situation.
Photo: Craig Russell | Shutterstock
While it varies, British Airways has the highest number of daily flights and the most routes. This was helped by the October 29th seasonal return of the superjumbo to Los Angeles. However, as Chicago will stop seeing it on December 12th, Emirates has slightly more total US flights across the analyzed period.
|
Airline |
A380 flights* |
From… |
To… |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Emirates |
Five daily |
Dubai |
New York JFK (double daily), Houston (daily), Los Angeles (daily), San Francisco (daily) |
|
British Airways |
Up to six daily |
London Heathrow |
Miami (double daily), Dallas Fort Worth (daily), San Francisco (daily), Los Angeles (daily), Chicago O’Hare (daily, but the A380 ends on December 12th) |
|
Korean Air |
Up to triple daily |
Seoul Incheon |
Los Angeles (double daily), New York JFK (daily, but the A380 ends on January 16th) |
|
All Nippon |
Up to double daily |
Tokyo Narita |
Honolulu (10 weekly, then double daily A380 from early December) |
|
Qantas |
Up to double daily |
Melbourne, Sydney |
Sydney-Los Angeles (daily), Melbourne-Los Angeles (twice-weekly) |
|
Asiana |
Up to double daily |
Seoul Incheon |
Los Angeles (daily A380 until February 29th, then double daily) |
|
Lufthansa |
Daily |
Munich |
Los Angeles |
|
* Each way. Not all at the same time |
Up to 20 daily flights
Analysis of more than 5,200 days since the A380’s first US flight in 2008 shows that the max of 20 departures is far below the record of 34. However, this volume was held on just 59 occasions between mid-November and the end of March. The most recent date was nearly seven years ago, on January 7th, 2017.
Photo: Soos Jozsef | Shutterstock
I like to show a breakdown of services as it helps to indicate the intensity of activity. The following is a snapshot of departures from the US on one day – Thursday, December 7th – with all times local per the US region:
- 10:40: EK204, New York JFK-Dubai
- 10:50: KE18, Los Angeles-Seoul
- 11:00: OZ201, Los Angeles-Seoul
- 11:30: NH183, Honolulu-Tokyo Narita
- 12:00: KE82, New York JFK-Seoul
- 12:40: NH181, Honolulu-Tokyo Nartia
- 15:35: EK216, Los Angeles-Dubai
- 15:40: EK226, San Francisco-Dubai
- 16:30: BA284, San Francisco-London Heathrow
- 17:00: BA294, Chicago-London Heathrow
- 17:10: BA206, Miami-London Heathrow
- 17:30: LH453, Los Angeles-Munich
- 18:50: BA192, Dallas-London Heathrow
- 19:10: EK212, Houston-Dubai
- 20:25: QF12, Los Angeles-Sydney
- 20:50: BA268, Los Angeles-London Heathrow
- 21:30: BA208, Miami-London Heathrow
- 22:35: QF94, Los Angeles-Melbourne
- 22:40: KE12, Los Angeles-Seoul
- 23:00: EK202, JFK-Dubai
Will you be flying on any of the routes mentioned in this article? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Sources: OAG, ch-aviation, Google Flights