Plaisance, Mauritius Emirates, today operated a one-off service of its Airbus A380 to the island of Mauritius. The first commercial flight of an A380 to the country was scheduled in celebration of the island’s 45th anniversary of independence. 

On-board the flight was Tim Clark, president of Emirates, Adnan Kazim, divisional senior vice president, planning and research, Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Emirates’ senior vice president, commercial operations – Gulf, Middle East & Iran and Ahmed Khoory, senior vice president, West Asia and Indian Ocean.  

At Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport the aircraft was met by Sarupanand Kinnoo, acting-director of Civil Aviation, Serge Petit, chief executive officer of airports of Mauritius and André Viljoen, chief executive officer of Air Mauritius, an Emirates’ code-share partner on this route. 

Clark, said “Emirates operation of the first commercial flight of an A380 to Mauritius on such a symbolic day is testament to the importance of the destination in our network.

 "Our partnership with the country and Air Mauritius has been strong since we started our operations ten years ago. As a major partner of the tourism industry, we will continue to support the island throughout our network to stimulate in-bound traffic,.

"Our flagship aircraft is proving more and more popular, figures show that over 14 million passengers have now experienced a flight on the Emirates’ A380.

"Emirates remains committed to being a leader in offering our customers innovative products and services that provide them with an unsurpassed travel experience.” 

Petit added: “Today is an auspicious day for Mauritius and we are welcome the fact that Emirates has chosen today in the history of our airport to bring the first commercial flight of an A380 to Mauritius.

“The A380 brings with it the opportunity to increase the number of passenger seats to the island. This is where the significant investment in our brand new terminal and airside infrastructure as well as all our drive towards modernisation would pay dividends.” 

The Emirates’ A380 has three-class configuration 14 private first class suites, 76 lie-flat beds in business class and 427 seats in economy class. 

Emirates’ fleet of 31 Airbus
A380s serves 21 destinations including: Jeddah, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Moscow, Rome, Seoul, London Heathrow, Melbourne, Munich, Beijing, Sydney, Auckland, Manchester, Tokyo, Paris, Toronto and New York. 

In January, Concourse A base of the Emirates A380, opened at Dubai International Airport.  The concourse is a purpose-built Airbus A380 concourse with 20 gates capable of handling the aircraft.  Emirates operates double-daily flights to Mauritius, served by a Boeing 777-300.