Dubai’s Emirates to start world’s shortest A380 flight

Emirates has operated A380s to Kuwait and Jeddah but the start of double-decker aircraft services to Doha from December 1 will mark a new brevity record.

At just 379km, the one-hour flight will barely be long enough to rev up the A380’s four engines before it makes its descent.

The three-class A380 flight will be one of nine services between the two cities with EK841 capturing peak morning traffic from Dubai (departing 0745 and arriving in Doha 0805) and EK842 departing Doha 0950, arriving in Dubai mid–day.

So while operationally, it may be questionable why you would put a plane which can fly up to 15,700km on such a short route, the high two-way loads that Emirates anticipates explains the decision.

Rivalry between Qatar Airways, itself busy growing its wide-body fleet and A380 network, and Emirates is strong so the news comes as something of a surprise although UAE-Qatar trade is equally strong with bilateral volumes reaching more than $7bn last year.

Emirates acknowledged that the service was made possible “through the support of the Qatari Authorities”.

Emirates, which now has 85 A380s in its fleet and 57 pending delivery, recently stopped flying the double-decker to Jeddah owing to runway repairs at the Saudi airport.