Emirates’ plans daily A380 Perth service

Emirates has confirmed its A380 aircraft will service Western Australia on a daily basis following the launch of its aggressive expansion program this month, when the first of Emirates' eventual fleet of 58 A380s flew from Dubai to New York.

As a special guest of Emirates on board the first commercial A380 flight, Business Class spoke to Emirates president Tim Clark, who said the A380 would serve Perth "probably once a day".

Mr Clark would not, however, commit to timing, although the airline's double daily flights between Perth and Dubai are already near capacity.

Pushback of the giant jet at Dubai Airport came just six minutes late, and within 15 minutes passengers were gazing at the images on their seatback video screens showing the giant jet lifting into the sky from the vantage point of a camera mounted atop the tail.

That camera is among the many Emirates A380 innovations, which include showers and a bar located at the rear of the business class cabin that quickly became a focal and social point of the flight.

The flight was a sellout and passengers commented on the smooth and quiet ride.

Emirates wasted no time getting the Engine Alliance-powered A380 into service after taking delivery in late July at Airbus's new Juergen Thomas A380 Delivery Centre in Hamburg, Germany.

Emirates will receive five A380s in the current financial year ending next March 31.

The remaining 53 will be delivered by June 2013.

The first five 489-seat aircraft will be deployed to JFK from August 8, London Heathrow from December 1 and Sydney/Auckland from February 1.

Emirates expects to operate thrice-weekly service to JFK until September, and Mr Clark said the second A380 due for delivery in September would move that to daily.

"The initial five aircraft will enable the airline to operate New York, Heathrow and Sydney/Auckland once a day," he said.

"Then we have quite a wait till further aircraft arrive in September 2009. We will then add new destinations as the market dictates."

And it's not just the business and first class passengers who get to enjoy the fruits of this new aircraft.

Emirates economy passengers are also in for a treat, with the seats being wider than any other economy seats on the airline's long-haul product.

Perth passengers have connection options for the A380 flight to New York and later to Heathrow.

Emirates' 49 weekly flights to Australia will grow to 70 by 2009 with Sydney and Melbourne moving to triple daily and Brisbane double daily, while Perth will stay at double daily for the moment.