Emirates has quietly taken delivery of another Airbus A380 aircraft. The delivery of A6-EVP means that only four more of the gentle giant will ever be delivered before Airbus wraps the program up for good. All remaining orders for the giant of the sky will go to the Dubai-based Emirates.
Sadly, the Airbus A380 program never lived up to its full potential. Airbus revealed the end of the program long before the current crisis began, showing that it was unrelated. However, the pandemic is doing no favors for the world’s largest passenger airliner, with more and more airlines looking to scrap the giant. The latest airline to announce such a move was Malaysia Airlines.
A6-EVP delivered
While most of the fleet remains grounded in Dubai, Emirates’ A380 tally got one aircraft bigger late just under a week ago. It seems as though A6-EVP was delivered to the Dubai giant, landing at its new home on Thursday morning.
FlightRadar24.com picked up the aircraft as registered as A6-EVP, operating the flight UAE5GT. RadarBox.com lists the same flight, albeit with the registration E6-EVP. Interestingly, neither tracker shows the aircraft while searching for “A6-EVP”.
According to RadarBox’s data, the aircraft departed from Airbus’ Hamburg Finkenwerder plant at 21:01 on Wednesday, May 12th. The aircraft cruised at an altitude of 41,000 feet before landing in Dubai six hours and 46 minutes later at 05:48 the next day. The flight covered 2640 nautical miles (4891km).
According to data from Planespotters.net, the aircraft is 0.8 years old, having first flown on August 12th, 2020, under the test registration F-WWSS. AIBFamily reports that the aircraft completed seven flights before delivery, including three customer acceptance flights.
More premium economy?
It would seem that Emirates now has two A380s with its new premium economy cabin, with Planespotters listing the aircraft as having four cabins. The airline’s new premium economy cabin sees seats laid out in a 2-4-2 configuration. In total, 56 seats are present, with 40 inches of pitch and a width of 19.5 inches.
To start with, Emirates isn’t selling seats in the cabin. Instead, it is upgrading some lucky passengers. This is due to the low inventory, meaning it may not always be possible to guarantee configuration. As more aircraft join the fleet, the airline will begin selling the seat, with Tim Clark commenting that demand so far has been positive.
Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.
One A380 delivery left this year
With the delivery of A6-EVP, Emirates is only set to take one more Airbus A380 this year. After this, three more aircraft are set to be delivered to the carrier next year before Airbus ends the program for good. The four remaining jets, according to Planespotters, are,
- A6-EVO – MSN:268 – First flight: Oct 1st, 2020 – Age: 0.6 years
- A6-EVQ – MSN:270 – First flight: Nov 26th, 2020 – Age: 0.5 years
- A6-EVR – MSN:271 – First flight: Feb 11th, 2021 – Age: 0.3 years
- A6-EVS – MSN:272 – First flight: Mar 17th, 2021 – Age: 0.2 years
How do you feel about the Airbus A380 program coming to an end? Have you tried Emirates’ new premium economy cabin yet? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!
