EMIRATES, a global connector of people and places, will be giving travelers heading to Perth, Australia the opportunity to experience the Emirates Airbus A380 on the route for the first time, commencing May 1, 2015. The airline has announced that it will up-gauge one of its three daily services between Dubai and Perth to its flagship aircraft, demonstrating the growth of Perth as a global destination. The change from a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will see an increase in capacity of 136 seats per flight and 1,904 seats per week, reinforcing Emirates' commitment to business and leisure passengers visiting the capital city of Western Australia. Together with Qantas, from May 2015 a total of seven daily A380 services will operate from Dubai to Australia with onward connections across the country via Qantas' domestic network. The recent announcement capped off a range of recent upgrades to Emirates' Australian services, including the introduction of a daily A380 to Brisbane and Melbourne, a double daily A380 to Sydney and a daily Adelaide service. “Emirates looks forward to being the first airline to bring the state-of-the-art A380 to Perth, offering residents the chance to experience this revolutionary aircraft and the best service in the sky first-hand, including spacious seating and generous luggage allowances in Economy Class, Wi-Fi throughout, 2,000 channels on ice, our award-winning inflight entertainment system, access to the world's only on-board Shower Spas for First Class passengers and the On-Board Lounge where First Class and Business Class passengers can socialize at 40,000 feet,” said Barry Brown, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations - East. “For business and leisure travellers, the Dubai-Perth route is a popular choice and our new Emirates A380 service will be instrumental in helping the airline meet this growing passenger demand as well as deliver substantial economic benefits through travel connections and inbound seats,” he added. “Australian customers are strategic to Emirates, and the deployment of a fifth Emirates A380 service to the country in association with Qantas demonstrates this further," Brown noted. Emirates was the first airline to place an order for the iconic A380, and is today the world's largest operator of this efficient and spacious twin-deck aircraft, with 56 in the fleet and 84 on order. — SG
