DFW AIRPORT – Emirates becomes the second airline to fly the A380 super jumbo jet to Dallas / Fort Worth when Flight 221 lands here from Dubai on Wednesday morning.
The double decker airliner is scheduled to touch down in North Texas at 9:30 a.m.
On Monday morning, Qantas replaced its 747 flights from Sydney to DFW with the A380.
Emirates currently flies a Boeing 777-300ER to DFW but is switching to the double decker Airbus. The A380 has 489 seats – 223 more than Emirates' Boeing 777 – including 14 First Class Private Suites, 76 lie-flat Business Class seats, and 399 Economy Class seats.
The Dubai-based airline said its 14 First Class passengers have access to two on-board "Shower Spas," which no other airline in the world offers. In addition, passengers can watch external cameras mounted on the tail showing the flight in progress from take-off to landing.
Emirates operates the largest fleet of A380s in the world with 52 of the aircraft. The Dubai-based carrier begins A380 flights to Houston on Dec. 3.
In addition, passengers all have personal digital widescreen televisions including 27-inch monitor in First Class, 20-inch in Business Class, and 12.1-inch in Economy Class. They show up to 1,800 channels of on-demand entertainment.
Qantas' flight from Sydney to DFW is the longest distance one in the world at more than 8,500 miles. It lasts about 15 hours.
The Emirates A380 from Dubai to DFW takes about 15 hours, according to flight tracker software, but it only covers about 8,000 miles.
DFW Airport spent $4 million to add a second and third jet bridge at Gate D 15 for both A380s. In addition, the airport put in 250 more seats at the gate.
