Emirates grounds A380 flights

[Philip Argy]

News just reported on The Sydney Morning Herald website:

Airline Emirates has stopped flying its Airbus A380 superjumbo just over a month after its first commercial flight.
The airline said that planned engineering work was "taking longer than expected", but London's Telegraph reported that an electrical fault was to blame for the halt on flights.
The fault "was noticed at the end of a training mission" a spokeperson told the Telegraph. The airline denied rumours sweeping the internet forums of air travel websites that the showers in the first-class bathrooms were connected to the problem.
The Emirates A380 currently flies a Dubai-New York route. The airline said Boeing 777-300ERs would fly the route in the interim. A380 flights are scheduled to resume on September 12.

[James Smith]

As posted on Airline Route Updates on 30 August, 2008

Emirates delays expanded A380 NY flight
Due to the installation of cabin interior delays on A380, Emirates has delayed the planned A380 schedule.

New York
Planned Daily A380 service from 01OCT08 appeared to be postponed till 30NOV08 at the earliest

Emirates has adjusted aircraft operation on its 2 Daily flight to cope with the delay from 01OCT08 to 25OCT08

EK203/204
Day 27: 77L
Day x27: 77W

EK201/202
Day 6: 77L
Day 124: 77W
Day 357: 380

A few reasons have been given in the various reports - installation of cabin interior delays, electrical problems and planned engineering work.

Daily services to NY have also been postponed by 2 months.

In addition, the following was posted on 4 September, 2008:

Emirates A380 service temporarily reduction
Emirates' 3 weekly A380 service on the Dubai - New York JFK route has been temporarily reduced from 3 to 2 weekly (Day 57).

Service returns to 3 weekly from 26SEP08

Emirates are not having the smooth introduction of A380 services that Singapore Airlines enjoyed.

[Nigel C]

See http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/...014090,00.html


EK may not be happy about further delays, but their lawyers will be delighted!