Is the pandemic and the end over? Not too far. But with Emirates Airlines once back flying its 500-seat A380 super-wide aircraft, the pandemic would possibly have reached manageable proportions. Or as Winston Churchill said in another context: “This is not the end. It’s not even the beginning of the end. But this may be the end of the beginning.
According to a spokeswoman. Emirates has resumed the A380 to five cities. Customers can recently fly on the Emirates A380 daily to Amsterdam, 4 times a week to Cairo, twice daily to London Heathrow, once a day to Paris and from 8 August, once a week to Guangzhou. The airline will “gradually expand the deployment of this popular aircraft based on order and operational approvals.”
In the absence of a vaccine still available, what motivates passengers to order enough to fly the giant A380 back to Emirates? This is helping the fact that Emirates is the first airline to offer passengers a flexible global policy for any COVID-19-related fitness price (up to 150,000 euros) and quarantine prices.
Prior to the pandemic and the global restrictions that accompany it, the global fleet of approximately 240 Airbus A380s flew 330 day-consistent flights to more than 70 destinations. But on April 27, 2020, the 15th anniversary of the first A380 flight, Flightradar24 reported after a single A380, a south Chinese flight from Los Angeles to Guangzhou. In June, at the highest (or deepest) point of the pandemic, an Unresponsive Airbus spokesman told the publisher that “all A380s are recently parked.”
With air reduced by 90% in April, the world’s largest passenger plane joined the other 16,000 aircraft inactive during the drop in Array Driving a four-engine, near-empty A380 seats made no sense.
Emirates, which before the pandemic advanced its occupancy rate to 81%, announced that it would park its 115 Airbus A380s, operating smaller aircraft until the call resumes. Emirates Engineering said he had spent thousands of hours running to protect the planes. “While a narrow-bodied aircraft requires only 3 or 4 workers running for 8 hours to cover it, our planes want 4 to six workers working a 12-hour shift,” said Ahmed Safa, executive vice president of the Emirates division, “And taking extra precautions while maintaining social distance adds its own appealing touch.
Other airlines have seized the slowdown as an opportunity to permanently step on or empty their beloved planes to operate. Lufthansa, which would have occupied 35% of the seats in its A380 fleet (speaking of social distance) has knocked down its 14 A380s, as well as Air France, Qantas, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.
Adding insult to the injury, Qatar Airlines, which owns ten succulent A380s with jumbos, said in July that it would not fly them for reasons of “sustainability.” Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “After a close-up look at the environment has an effect on the numbers, flying such a giant low-load plane doesn’t do our daily environmental jobs or make no publicity.” However, Airbus’ website, IFlyA380.com, calls the A380 “the world’s greenest wide body aircraft. With 40% higher capacity than its nearest competitor and low-emission engines, the A380 consumes 17% less seat-compatible fuel, resulting in 17% less CO2 emissions.
Emirates dazzlingly believes that the passenger request is enough to unpack their A380s, even if they take the time to return to service. It takes 4 or 5 committed workers and at least 18 to 24 hours in the air to revive a giant aircraft.
Much of the premium service passengers expect from Emirates will return with the A380. Emirates will resume service with hot, cutlery and quality dishes sterilized prior to each use. In First and Business classes, one-time menus and wine cards will be provided. Comfort parts such as mattresses, pillows, blankets, headphones and toys will be provided sealed. Emirates says consumers will get a hygiene kit at the door before boarding flights.
What gives Emirates enough confidence to offer passengers COVID-19 flight insurance? The airline is taking steps to prevent the spread of the virus.
Passengers transiting through Dubai International Airport (DXB) and transferred to some other flight will pass a thermal check. Transfer offices were set up at the airport with protective barriers. The passenger waiting domain has been changed to make some social distance. Staff dressed in a non-public protective device (EPI) lend a hand to passengers at a distance.
The boarding series was staggered, with passengers boarding in rows from the last row to the front row in small numbers, minimizing contact with passengers. You will need to check in your carry-on baggage and passengers can only bring on board essential pieces, such as a laptop, wallet, briefcase or baby parts, which also minimizes contact in the aisles. The boarding gates are cleaned and disinfected very well after each flight. Emirates even asks passengers to bring their own pens to complete the forms.
The Emirates A380 cockpit equipment (and other aircraft) is fully equipped with EPI. Stopovers have been reduced in the destination cities and, on long-haul flights, where stopovers are required, teams are accommodated in single rooms in the hotels. Back in Dubai, where all Emirates teams are located, COVID-19 tests are conducted throughout the team. Each team member should be required to spend about 40 14 days at home after each flight, unless they were on duty.
Emirates also added a cabin service assistant to the team on flights of more than an hour and a half. The important, but unpleasant, task of the cabin service assistant is to make sure that aircraft bathrooms are cleaned frequently, at 45-minute intervals. For passengers, all toilets are supplied with a disinfectant soap and instructions for placing hands.
Emirates says its aircraft’s cabins have complex HEPA air filters that eliminate 99.97% of viruses and eliminate dust, allergens and germs. And to minimize the threat of tactile infection, published magazines and reading fabrics will not be available, some studies show that paper is not the main source of transmission of the virus. When an A380 returns to Dubai, it is going through an “improved” cleaning and disinfection process, a great task for the big aircraft.
Is all this emphasis on sanitation necessary? Or is it the “COVID-19 theater” designed to reassure potential passengers? In any case, Emirates’ efforts are working hard enough to reunite passengers with a favorite aircraft, the Airbus A380.
I have won several journalism awards and my writings have been published in The Los Angeles Times, American Way, Southwest Airlines Spirit, Successful Meetings and
I have won several journalism awards and my writings have been published in The Los Angeles Times, American Way, Southwest Airlines Spirit, Successful Meetings and United Hemispheres. At home, at headquarters, I have a handful of credit cards, I’ve spent over six months of my life in Las Vegas hotels, and I’ve edited extensively around the world. However, one of my favorite destinations is Independence, KS, a small giant american town, where my paintings as a playwright were held at the William Inge Festival.