UAE- Emirates Airline's first A380 touches down in Amman
Date
9/27/2016 4:17:39 AM
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
DUBAI, 26th September, 2016 (WAM) --- Emirates Airline's A380 touched down on Sunday at Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Amman City as the airline bought its popular aircraft into Jordan for a one-off service marking 30 successful years of operations to country.
The airline's flagship double-decker, with the ability to carry over 500 passengers at a time, made history when it became the first-ever scheduled A380 service to Queen Alia International Airport, and it was also be the first time the A380 commercially operates to the Levant, the UAE carrier said.
The celebratory A380 flight touched down to a water cannon salute with almost 400 passengers on-board. These included UAE government and parliamentary officials as well as prominent members from the UAE business community on-board. The flight was welcomed by key Jordanian officials.
Adel Al Redha, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for Emirates Airline, said, "Today's A380 service to Queen Alia International Airport reinforces the long-standing tourism and business relationship that Emirates and the UAE share with Jordan and its local authorities. We look forward to operating the A380 on a scheduled basis to and from Amman."
Emirates Airline has been flying to Jordan since 1986, and since then has carried over 4.1 million passengers. In the last five years, Emirates has also transported 100,000 tonnes of cargo to and from the country. Emirates operates three daily flights between Amman and Dubai.
As the largest operator of the double-decker aircraft, Emirates' fleet of 83 A380s now fly to over 40 destinations from the Dubai Hub. Additional A380 destinations that are set to launch this year include Guangzhou and Moscow on 1 October and Christchurch on 30th October, Emirates Airline said.
WAM/MMYS