The Emirates A380 service will operate as EK 862 and EK 863, departing Dubai at 0825hrs and arriving in Muscat at 0935hrs, providing connections with the airline’s A380 services from both Auckland and Christchurch. The return flight will depart Muscat at 1205hrs arriving in Dubai at 1310hrs on the same day.

David Wilson, Chief Operations Officer, Oman Airports said: “The arrival of the aircraft will be a valuable initiative which will highlight our new international airport terminal and we look forward to celebrating our long standing commitment with Emirates Airline.”

In 1993, Emirates inaugurated its first service to Muscat and since then, has carried more than 4.3 million passengers to and from Oman. The airline started operating with a Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a four weekly services. Today, the airline flies to Muscat with three daily services utilising Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, connecting passengers to over 150 global destinations.

The Emirates A380 flying to Muscat will be set in a three-class configuration, with 429 seats in Economy Class on the lower deck, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 14 First Class Private Suites on the upper deck.

Emirates passengers travelling in all classes will enjoy the airline’s award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice, offering up to 3,500 channels of shows, music and other programming. Passengers in all classes will also enjoy up 20MB complimentary on-board Wi-Fi, as well as regionally inspired meals on-board prepared by award-winning chefs.

Emirates is the largest operator of A380 aircraft, operating in New Zealand a daily A380 non-stop to Dubai from Auckland and a daily A380 from Christchurch via Sydney, as well as a daily Boeing 777-300ER service from Auckland via Bali. The airline currently has 103 A380s in service and 59 pending delivery flying to almost 50 destinations.