Emirates has commenced its first scheduled Airbus A380 service to India with a daily flight between Dubai and Mumbai.
EK500 took off from Dubai International Airport at 9.55pm on Monday and arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai at 2.30am yesterday, covering the 2,222km at an average cruising speed of 822km per hour.
The return flight, EK501, took off from Terminal 2 in Mumbai at 4.30am and arrived at Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai at 6am.
Ahmed Khoory, senior vice-president (Commercial Operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean), at Emirates, said: “Mumbai was one of the first destinations on our route network when we launched in 1985. In the past 29 years, we have flown over 42mn passengers between India and the UAE and so it is quite fitting that the city becomes our 29th A380 destination.”
Naveen Chawla, vice-president (Aero Marketing), Mumbai International Airport Private Limited, said: “We are delighted to welcome the arrival of Emirates’ first A380 to India in Mumbai.”
Passengers on board EK500 and EK501 from Dubai and Mumbai were given a special commemorative certificate and gift. A specially commissioned piece of artwork, a traditional Indian “rangoli”, was created by local Mumbai artists.
Mumbai is the newest destination on the Emirates A380 network and follows closely on the heels of Kuwait, which started on July 16.
The A380 offers passengers travelling to and from Mumbai a choice of 14 First Class suites, 76 lie-flat Business Class seats on the upper deck and 399 Economy Class seats on the main deck.
Every seat on board is connected to “ice”, which has just been voted the world’s best in-flight entertainment system for the 10th year in a row by Skytrax.
