BY JAMES WILKINSON

Emirates has announced its Dubai-Melbourne-Auckland route will be upgraded to a daily Airbus A380 service from October 2012, adding an extra 50,000 seats a year in a significant boost to tourism.

Emirates is set to fly Airbus A380s to Melbourne

The Dubai-based airline currently flies three times per day to Melbourne – one direct service and the other two via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore respectively – and Emirates’ Vice President for Australasia, Barry Brown, said the Airbus A380 would serve the Victorian capital in a three class configuration of 14 First, 76 Business and 399 Economy Class seats.

“We are looking forward to bringing a state-of-the-art Emirates A380 to Melbourne, offering Victorian travellers the chance to experience this revolutionary aircraft and the best service in the sky,” Brown said.

“This is the second Emirates A380 to service Australia and New Zealand, following our introduction of the aircraft on the Dubai-Sydney-Auckland route in 2009, further demonstrating our strong investment in and commitment to these destinations.

“Emirates not only offers a world-class in-flight experience to travellers but a superior global route network.  The announcement of enhanced services into Melbourne comes as we receive delivery of our 20th A380 in our fleet and also introduce flights to Dublin from January – our 29th European destination,” he said.

Emirates’ A380s are some of the most luxurious aircraft in the sky and feature private suites and showers in First Class, restaurant quality cuisine and flat-bed seats Business Class, spacious cabins in Economy and over 1000 channels of on-demand entertainment across the entire superjumbos.