Bengaluru is now the second city in the nation to be served by the iconic aircraft since The Emirates began flying the route between Dubai and Mumbai.
Bengaluru witnessed a historic event on Friday at around 3.40 pm when an Emirates Airbus A380 touched down at Kempegowda International Airport. The largest passenger plane in the world made its inaugural commercial flight to the city in southern India.
Captain Nikhil Thigarajan and a Bengali named Sandeep Prabhu piloted the plane.
Satyendra Prabhu, elder brother of Sandeep, speaking to indianexpress.com said: “My brother announced the ‘welcome’ speech in Kannada. He reached out to our parents – Arathi Prabhu and Shivaraya Prabhu – to script the announcement in Kannada and welcome the passengers on board in an authentic and professional manner… He immediately called me after landing and expressed how he enjoyed every bit of the trip.” Sandeep has been a pilot for around 15 years now.
The plane touched down on the south runway, and three "follow me" vehicles guided it to the north runway, where it docked at Gate 44.
At 10 a.m. local time, the plane took off from Dubai and landed seven minutes early in Bengaluru. Originally set to arrive on October 30, the superjumbo's arrival date was advanced by more than two weeks. ST Somashekar, the minister of cooperation for the state of Karnataka, H.E. Dr. Ahmed Abdel Rahman AlBanna, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to India, and Hari Marar, the managing director and chief executive officer of Bangalore International Airport Limited welcomed the flight carrying 224 passengers at the welcome reception in Bengaluru (BIAL).
The double-deck wide-body flight flew back after 7 pm.
Satyaki Raghunath, chief strategy and development officer at BIAL, said: “Bengaluru has become the first city in south India to be served by the Emirates’ flagship A380 services. The arrival of this wide-body aircraft today shows the operational capability and rising passenger demand at BLR Airport. The enhanced premium experience that the new A380 service brings to the Dubai-Bengaluru route will not only meet the strong travel demand but also help to stimulate traffic between the two markets.”
Bengaluru is now the second city in the nation to be served by the iconic aircraft since The Emirates began flying the route between Dubai and Mumbai in 2014.
Emirates' A380 flights between Dubai and Bengaluru will begin flying under the flight numbers EK568 and EK569 on October 30. The daily flight is planned to depart from the airline's hub at 21:25 and touch down in Bengaluru at 02:30 local time the following morning. At 04:30, the return flight leaves from Kempegowda International Airport and arrives in Dubai at 07:10 (local time). The Boeing 777, The Emirates' other widebody aircraft, is used for two additional daily flights.
The A380 is currently flown by Emirates to more than 30 locations around the world, and the airline intends to use the well-liked aircraft at more than 40 locations by March 2023.
The superjumbo weighs between 510 and 575 tonnes, according to Emirates. It is five giraffes tall and two blue whales long. The plane can travel a distance of up to 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) and cruise at a height of 43,100 feet. There are roughly 480 seats available on the aircraft.
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