The Fascination of One-Stop Flights with Large Aircraft
One-stop flights may offer unique and intriguing travel opportunities. This applies not only to routes spanning vast distances, like China Eastern’s upcoming service from Shanghai Pudong to Buenos Aires via Auckland, starting just in time for Christmas. These flights can also be notable for the size of the aircraft utilized. Analyzing OAG data for September reveals that there are four routes operating with aircraft featuring at least 450 seats. Unsurprisingly, these routes use the Airbus A380s.
The World’s 4 Stopping Routes with 450+ Seat Aircraft
- Emirates and Qantas are the airlines involved.
- Qantas operates with a consistent 485-seat layout across its A380s.
- Emirates, however, has nine different A380 configurations, ranging from 468 to 615 seats.
- The actual number of seats available on any given flight can vary slightly.
| Route | Airline | September Operations |
|---|---|---|
| Dubai to Christchurch via Sydney* | Emirates | Daily A380 on 484-seat A380s |
| Dubai to Hong Kong via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi* | Emirates | Daily A380 on 519-seat A380s |
| Dubai to New York JFK via Milan Malpensa* | Emirates | Daily A380 on 519-seat A380s |
| Sydney to London Heathrow via Singapore* | Qantas | Daily on 485-seat A380s |
* With fifth freedom traffic rights
Emirates’ Four-Class A380 on the Christchurch Route
Since July 2004, Emirates has operated routes to Christchurch, initially using the A340-500 and 777-300ER before introducing the A380 in 2016. The 484-seat A380 layout has been in use since March 2023, featuring:
- 14 refurbished suites in first class on the upper deck
- 76 lie-flat business seats
- 56 premium economy seats on the main deck
- 338 economy seats
Historically, the one-stop A340 service operated from Dubai to Christchurch via Melbourne, switching to a stop in Sydney, and eventually transitioned to a single stop using the A380.
| Leg | September Schedule (Local Times)* |
|---|---|
| Dubai to Sydney | EK412: 10:20-06:05+1 |
| Sydney to Christchurch | EK412: 07:50-12:55 |
| Christchurch to Sydney | EK413: 17:45-19:05 |
| Sydney to Dubai | EK413: 21:10-05:40+1 |
* Some schedule variations occur toward the end of the month
Historical Perspective on One-Stop Flights
Looking back to September 2019, prior to the pandemic, the same four routes were operational with over 450-seat configurations. Additional routes included Corsair’s 747-400 Paris Orly-St. Denis-Mauritius and Air France’s 777-300ER from Paris CDG to Punta Cana-Santo Domingo.
Qantas notably served the Sydney to New York JFK route via Los Angeles until 2020. Now, it connects JFK through Auckland using a 236-seat 787-9. Singapore Airlines formerly ran an A380 service to JFK via Frankfurt on 441-seat equipment, which fell short of this size metric by 2023.
