Emirates to deploy the world's biggest aircraft on its Copenhagen service

The announcement that Emirates will be flying the A380 on the Copenhagen route comes almost four years after the airline first connected the Danish capital with Dubai. For the route, Emirates will use the world's first A380 in a configuration with two cabin classes and seating capacity for 615 passengers.

We originally launched the route using the A330, but we soon saw growing demand for flights to and from Copenhagen, so just six months later we began using the bigger 777. Today, we are pleased to further upgrade our service due to our high load factor, and we will now be deploying our iconic double-decker, the A380," said Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airlines. "Emirates' use of this aircraft is history in the making. It has better fuel efficiency than most small modern passenger cars in terms of fuel economy per passenger kilometre, and that allows us to reduce emissions without compromising on comfort," Clark added.

Even more passengers

Almost 800,000 passengers have flown on the route between Copenhagen and Dubai since Emirates launched its service to Denmark in 2011. The enormous A380 will now carry even more passengers on the route, which is in line with Copenhagen Airport's growth agenda:

We are currently investing significant amounts in expanding Copenhagen Airport, including in upgrading our infrastructure to make the airport A380-compatible. We are very pleased with Emirates' decision to deploy the A380, the world's biggest passenger airliner, on the route to Copenhagen, which also makes Copenhagen the first city in Scandinavia to offer a scheduled A380 route," said Thomas Woldbye, CEO of Copenhagen Airports. "The increased capacity will hopefully stimulate more trade and tourism between Denmark and countries of the Middle East, Asia and Africa," Woldbye added.

Part of the plan

In January 2014, CPH presented its growth plan – Expanding CPH – a detailed vision for gradually expanding the airport over the coming two or three decades to enable it to handle 40 million passengers annually. In 2014, Copenhagen Airport reached an all-time high of 25 million passengers.

"In connection with Expanding CPH, we are working extensively with 'intelligent solutions' that are to ensure that we get the most for the money we invest. That also includes investing to upgrade the airport so we can take even the biggest aircraft. For example, we will expand the runway in connection with a long-planned renovation," said Woldbye.

In the next few months, one of the airport's two main runways will be renovated, and in that connection CPH will widen the currently 3.3 kilometre-long runway 04R/22L by four metres on each side. This is necessary as, with its enormous wingspan, the Airbus A380 aircraft requires a runway wider than the standard 45 metres.

CPH is currently also making a major expansion of the airport's Pier C, where the largest aircraft are parked. This expansion includes the installation of two jet bridges at one of the gates, which is a requirement for handling an Airbus A380. The total cost of the Pier C project and the renovation of the runway will be in excess of DKK 300 million. The preparation for Airbus A380 accounts for a small fraction of this amount.