China’s most populated city, Shanghai is set to join Emirates’ expanding network of Airbus A380 destinations when the superjumbo begins its non-stop service from Dubai Airport on 27th April 2011. Shanghai will become Emirates’ 3rd destination in China to welcome Emirate’s Airbus A380 following the launch of the A380 service to Beijing on 1st August 2010 and Hong Kong on 1st October 2010.
Emirates’ 489-seater A380 will be the first scheduled A380 service to the city of Shanghai that will be operating 3 days a week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Flight EK302 will depart Dubai Airport at 03.10hrs (local time) and arrive in Shanghai Airport at 15.30hrs (local time). The return flight EK303 will depart Shanghai at 23.30hrs (local time) and arrive at Dubai Airport at 04.30hrs (local time) the following day.
The introduction of the Emirates’ A380 in Dubai offers passengers from China a convenient transfer option to a large list of Emirates’ destinations in the Middle East which saw the addition of Basra on 1st February 2011, Africa and a growing number of cities in Europe, the total number of destinations served by Emirates A380 will stand at 27 following the launch of Geneva on 1st June 2011 and the lauch of Copenhagen on 1st August 2011.
For those wishing to stopover, Dubai city really has an incredible amount to offer such as fine dining and world class golf courses, views from the tallest building in the world and an enormous range of shopping options. Over 111,000 business and leisure travellers from China visited Dubai in 2010 following the UAE gaining Approved Destination Status.
Currently Emirates operates double-daily services each to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and daily services to Guangzhou, while Emirate’s fleet of 15 A380s are currently operating on services from Dubai to London Heathrow (double-daily), Dubai to Manchester, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Toronto, Seoul, Bangkok, Beijing, Jeddah, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney and Auckland.