March 31- Emirates Airline will deploy the Airbus A380 on its flights to Manchester from September 1 this year, thus marking 20 years of Emirates presence in the city.
The A380 will replace Boeing 777 aircraft on EK017 from Dubai and EK018 out of Manchester. At the same time, Manchester will become the world's first regional airport to have a regular A380 service.
"Manchester has become one of the strongest performers in our growing network of regional gateways. Our customers value our commitment to a regional network at a time when other airlines are abandoning them. We are delighted to give our Manchester customers the very best available in the shape of the Emirates A380, which, without doubt, has revolutionised flying,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, Europe and Russian Federation, while talking to journalists on the occasion.
Currently, Emirates has deployed eight A380s that serve London Heathrow, Toronto, Paris, Jeddah, Bangkok, Seoul, Sydney and Auckland.