An Emirates Airbus A380 touched down at Christchurch this afternoon as the first superjumbo in the South Island since the pandemic.
EK412 arrived slightly behind schedule at 2.40pm, carrying almost 500 passengers, 18 tonnes of cargo and two flying spa showers.
The largest scheduled airliner in the South Island since 2019, it was a welcome arrival for bringing both travellers and freight capacity into New Zealand.
The daily services are set to bring around 3400 passengers a week straight into the Christchurch and the South Island tourism route.
EK412 is also the first plane into New Zealand carrying a revamped premium economy offering. With new aircraft being brought on to EK448 Dubai to Auckland, from this week Emirates will be offering all four cabin classes - first, business, economy and premium economy.
Barry Brown, vice-president Australasia for Emirates, was aboard this afternoon’s arrival.
“I came here in 2016 when we first launched the service and it was great to see such interest today, seeing all the aviation fans lining the fence for our arrival,” Brown said.
The Dubai route, which makes a short, two-hour stopover in Sydney, is a gateway for both long-haul and transtasman passengers.
Brown said there was a fairly even split of passengers from Australia and the rest of the Emirates network.
“You could tell the long-haul passengers from Europe were still having a snooze while the Australians were still fresh holding a glass of champagne pre-takeoff.”
The airline, which was facing a $7.6 billion loss over the Covid-19 pandemic, is well into rebuilding its international network.
Dozens of planes from Emirates’ 119-strong A380 fleet are still mothballed and awaiting refurbishment. While Emirates continues to face the same supply issues that other airlines are dealing with, New Zealand was an important part of the airline’s long-haul offering.
The 14-seat first-class cabin was just under half full on arrival today, but Brown was encouraged by business-class cabins which were at close to 80 per cent capacity, which he said only gets busier with forward bookings.
“Ever since we announced the return of the A380, booking has been really strong.”
He expected economy leisure passengers would be trading up to the new premium economy, particularly those travelling on to Dubai.
After a short turnaround, the plane becomes service EK413, departing 6.20pm for Dubai via Sydney.
Emirates and long-haul travellers weren’t the only people glad to see the return of the double-decker plane. Aviation fans and plane spotters had lined the airport perimeter fence to get a look at the enormous new arrival.
Carlos, an Air New Zealand employee from Rolleston, had come in on his day off to catch the approach.
“It’s pretty good to see. I hadn’t expected as many people, as turned out. The plane-spotters’ park was full by midday.”
He said the return of EK312 was a great thing for Christchurch airport and was hoping the return of China Southern’s direct flights to Guangzhou were not too far away.
Emirates joins Singapore Airlines, Jetstar, Qantas, Fiji Airways and Air New Zealand in offering international services out of Christchurch.