Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport
is South Africa’s biggest and busiest airport. As of October 2024, it is one of only four African airports with scheduled Airbus A380
flights. Three airlines currently fly the superjumbo to Johannesburg: British Airways, Emirates, and Qantas.

All three airlines recently announced an expansion to their Johannesburg operations, highlighting the growing demand for flights to and from South Africa. According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, the airport will see an average of 26 weekly A380 flights, providing up to 12,852 seats per week in October 2024. This is the most among any African airport.

Emirates – Double daily flights

Emirates
is known for being the largest operator of the Airbus A380. This month, it will fly the superjumbo from Dubai to Johannesburg 14 times a week (twice a day), providing 7,144 seats (per week) each way. The airline resumed its second daily A380 flight on September 1, 2024, reaffirming the importance of South Africa on its global network.

Emirates Airbus A380

Photo: Emirates

The airline has three daily flights to Johannesburg, with the other service operated on the Boeing 777. However,

Emirates recently announced that it would add a fourth daily flight
on the Triple Seven, starting on March 1, 2025. This will bring its total number of flights to South Africa to 49 weekly across the three major gateways—Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

Emirates first deployed the superjumbo to Johannesburg in October 2011. It has remained committed to its flagship aircraft in the country,

even deploying it on a low flypast to open a rugby game last month
. While there is no date yet, passengers flying between Dubai and Johannesburg

should soon expect the introduction of premium economy
as more aircraft enter the airline’s retrofit program.

British Airways – Double daily from next year

British Airways
has the second-highest number of A380 flights, deploying the superjumbo to Johannesburg seven times a week (daily) and offering an average of 3,283 seats each way. The airline has a total of two daily flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg, with the other service operating on the Boeing 777-300ER.

British Airways A380 landing

Photo: Thiago B Trevisan | Shutterstock

From June 1, 2025,

the A380 will be deployed on both the airline’s double daily Johannesburg service
. This LHR-JNB frequency on the superjumbo was last scheduled in summer 2023. The schedule change comes as the oneworld carrier does not plan to operate the A380 to Boston or Dallas next summer (subject to change).

British Airways has a total of 21 weekly flights to South Africa, including its daily service from London Heathrow to Cape Town. The British carrier first deployed the Airbus A380 to Johannesburg in February 2014. However, its French counterpart, Air France, was the first airline to send the A380 to South Africa in February 2010.

Qantas – First-ever A380 flights

Australian flag carrier Qantas is the latest airline to add A380 flights to Johannesburg. The carrier

launched flights from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport to OR Tambo on September 30, 2024
. The superjumbo replaced the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and is currently operating five weekly flights. However, this will be increased to six weekly, nearly doubling capacity on the route.

Qantas Airbus A380

Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock

This is the first time Qantas has sent the A380 to Johannesburg. Its deployment also marks the return of first class flights on the route since 2018. The Qantas superjumbo has a capacity of 485 seats across four cabins, including first, business, premium economy, and economy. Johannesburg is currently the airline’s only destination in Africa.

The new A380 service came with a new codeshare between Qantas and Airlink, South Africa’s largest airline by fleet and number of destinations served. The codeshare will give Qantas customers easy access to nine additional destinations in South Africa, including Cape Town, Durban, and Hoedspruit.

In addition to Johannesburg, Cairo, Casablanca, and Mauritius are the only other African airports with Airbus A380 flights. However,

the services are all offered by Emirates
. The airline has 21 weekly flights to Cairo, 14 to Casablanca, and seven to Mauritius.

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