EK A380 BHX
 

EK will operate the A380 into BHX on the 9th sept first time .Arrive 1235/Depart 1505 EK039/040 A380 from/to Dubai
cheers chris

any news yet if one is going to operate into manchester (landing, not just flypast!).

Are the load factors really that good ? Surprising.

An Emirates’ A380 super-jumbo is to make a flight from Dubai to Birmingham Airport in September. The plane will serve the route for just for a single day – September 9 – as part of the Birmingham Airport’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
The giant double decker aircraft will be used on one of Emirates’ two daily services from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Birmingham, giving passengers the first chance to fly directly to and from Birmingham on the A380. President Emirates Airline Tim Clark said: ‘Emirates and Birmingham Airport have enjoyed a successful partnership since we started services in 2000, and it’s fitting that we should mark this significant milestone in the airport’s history by flying in our most talked about aircraft.'
Birmingham Airport’s deputy chief executive officer Joe Kelly said: ‘Our 70th anniversary is a fantastic milestone for the airport and we are delighted that Emirates is helping us celebrate our birthday with the A380. This is the first commercial flight of an A380 outside of London Heathrow in Britain. As well as our 70th anniversary, September 9, is also the date that our new £45 million International Pier opens with state of the art facilities and it is therefore very fitting that the first aircraft will be the Emirates A380.’


Link below
Superjumbo flight to Birmingham Airport : Birmingham Airport News Stories

Just out of curiosity, will the new £45m Pier be able to accept an A380, or will they have to park on one (two) of the remotes?

No, the loads are not that good. They're appreciably lower than MAN and the latest info I know about is that only 200 pax booked so far for EK39 and 132 for EK40. They expect it to be 374 for EK39 and 231 for EK40. Just a single F class ticket sold each way apparently.

I'm still trying to find what kind of modified airfield operations have been put in place, given that MAN's is known.

The new pier will be able to accept the A380. At least one stand has double airbridges.

Who handles EK at Birmingham, and have they got the ground kit to handle it?

Servisair handle Emirates at BHX. Don't know about the ground kit, I assume Emirates will supply the tow bar. Only problem with the ground handling I can see is catering the upper deck.

You can feel the annoyance that MAN is not seeing the Emirates A380 before BHX...... It's a PR thing and there are fewer F class seats sold out there in the regions full stop. Unlike BA's model, this is factored into the equation with Emirates though.

It's not the annoyance, just the frustration that having had it's birthday in June and being the most likely candidate for A380 services to regional Britain in the short to medium term, EK uses such an aircraft to BHX "unprofitably" instead of MAN (slight hint: MAN 40,000 pax on EK in June, BHX 34,000, with an apparent 7% point difference in loads).

Remember they've swapped the BHX 77W and the LHR A380 around. Not totally logical given the likely booking patterns for them.

Has anyone got any details of what BHX has done in terms of taxiways, etc?

Definately more than 1 F class booked outbound and load building nicely. Plenty of room for cargo apparently so it shouldn't make much of a loss on the flight, if any and plenty of good PR for the airline.

Surely selling even one F seat is an achievment as it is never an option from BHX,MAN,GLA and NCL which are only normally served by a/c in 2 class layout:ok:

FC is not really a product you want for regional operations, it's more for capitals and business centres where the nobs can fly on expenses.

Even Emmaroids is having its share of issues with places like New York where the A380 and its fancy cabins is just too much plane for the route. Their next tranche of deliveries may include high density versions which will be more suited to the odd location where volume of seats can be tailored to demand. BHX could even see their two flights combined into one A388HD if the traffic case is there for it. The relatively low fuel load for BHX-DXB helps with runway lengths too.

from what Singapore Airlines has been saying, if they can do that it cuts their operating costs down substantially and gives a much better CASM when an A380 replaces 773ER operated seats out of an airport. Idle musing but with the sort of numbers mentioned above I'd say BHX is a strong case for an A380HD with no first class

There was a rumour on some sites that an Emirates A380 was visiting MAN on Monday the 7th September (before BHX:))

Given the LDA in Birmingham is about 2000m - this should be interesting!

:cool:

Why? Are you claiming it's unsafe? Really?

Charts say 2280 and 2298 depending on which end.

As Emirates have had to pull a A380 from the LHR EK1/2 run on the 9th September for the BHX visit, the chances of a EK A380 visiting MAN on the 7th September are zilch IMHO (other than a diversion).

I think its about time the BHX knockers from the North West moved on and get over their A380 anxiety - you'll get one visit MAN at some point.

So Airbus designate BHX as a suitable operating airfield and London alternate when they were designing and building the 380 and you say 2000LDA is interesting ?

Whitehatter
 

The problem with combining BHX's 2 flights into 1 A380 would be a severe loss of cargo space. It is not unusual for both 77W's to have every available hold position full, so a swop to an A380 would probably lose more money than it would make. On top of that I don't think it would take the 884 plus infants that depart daily during the holiday peaks and would have trouble dealing with the combined low loads we are getting at the moment. Also TC wouldn't be talking about a 3rd daily flight if he thought he could do as well with a 380 on one of the current services:ok: