Emirates airline has announced that it will operate the first ever scheduled commercial Airbus A380 flight to South America when it upgrades its Dubai–Sao Paulo service on March 26.
Replacing the existing Boeing 777-300ER used on this route, the A380 service will mark the airline’s 10th year of operations in Brazil, which it began with daily flights between Dubai and Sao Paulo in October 2007.
In 2012, Emirates expanded its presence in Brazil with the start of a daily service between Dubai and Rio de Janeiro.
Hubert Frach, Emirates divisional senior vice president, Commercial Operations, West, said: “The switch to the A380 offers a total of 959 additional seats per week in each direction meeting a growing demand from travellers on the route and demonstrating our commitment to Brazil and to the South American region.”
“We made significant investments to upgrade the facilities at GRU Airport – São Paulo International Airport in order to make it A380-compatible. We are very excited about Emirates’ decision to deploy the first A380 in South America to our airport”, added Gustavo Figueiredo, GRU Airport CEO.
Sao Paulo will join more than 40 destinations on Emirates’ global network served by its A380 aircraft.
Emirates is the world’s largest operator of A380s, with 92 currently in its fleet and a further 50 on order. Since 2008, the airline has carried over 65 million passengers on its flagship aircraft.
Emirates will deploy its three class A380 on the Sao Paulo route, offering a total of 491 seats, with 14 private suites in First Class, 76 lie flat seats in Business Class and 401 seats in Economy Class.
