JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 5 September 2024: Emirates took to the skies last week to celebrate its longstanding and ongoing commitment to South Africa with the country’s first-ever A380 flypast.
The flying display celebrated the return of the second daily A380 service on the Dubai-Johannesburg route from 1 September.
To add to the score, the remarkable low-level aerial showcase also marked Emirates’ first flypast in Africa and the first international airline to execute such a feat in South Africa.
Honouring its shared love for rugby with over 62,000 enthusiastic spectators, Emirates flew the world’s largest commercial passenger aircraft over Emirates Airline Park just before kick-off of the much-anticipated Springboks vs All Blacks test match.
Flying just 500 feet above the ground, the iconic Emirates double-decker aircraft saluted rugby and aviation fans in its latest signature livery.
The Emirates A380 took off from O.R. Tambo International Airport at 1600, travelling at 140 kts, reaching the stadium at 1658, perfectly timed to follow South Africa and New Zealand’s national anthems.
The impressive aerial feat follows months of thorough and cross-functional planning between stakeholders, including multiple teams at Emirates, the South African Civil Aviation Authority, Airports Company South Africa, Emirates pilots, Flight Operation Managers, and Air Traffic Controllers working together with the Emirates Lions team. The teams worked together across every element of the aerial display, considering air traffic patterns at different times of the day with different weather and wind conditions.
UAE National Captain Mubarak Al Mheiri, A380 Deputy Chief Pilot commanded the flight, joined by Captain Khalid Binsultan and Captain Abdalla Al Hammadi, both Technical Pilots for the Airbus A380 and Captain Richard Fiess, A380 Captain. Captain Mubarak has flown with Emirates for 19 years and has completed over 7,200 hours in the cockpit of the iconic A380.
He has commanded similar flypasts for Emirates, including UAE National Day celebrations for the past four years and headlining the commercial aircraft flypast formation at the 2023 Dubai Air Show. He also participated in the iconic flight promoting Expo 2020, which saw an A380 fly around an Emirates Cabin Crew at the very top of the Burj Khalifa; the unprecedented formation flight with the Jetman team back in 2015; and with the Red Arrows in 2022.
The flypast also marked the return of Emirates’ second A380 service on the Dubai-Johannesburg route, enhancing customer choice and travel options with Emirates’ iconic onboard products and world-class service.
EK761 departs Dubai at 0405 and lands in Johannesburg at 1015. The return flight, EK762, departs Johannesburg at 1325 and touches down in Dubai at 2345, perfectly timed for onward connections to key destinations in the Far East, Europe, and the Middle East.
Emirates is one of the world’s biggest supporters of rugby. In South Africa, Emirates’ investment in the sport is headlined by its steadfast title sponsorship of the Emirates Lions, including naming rights of the team’s home stadium, Emirates Airline Park. The airline also sponsors the action-packed Cape Town Sevens, a regular fixture on the Sevens World Series calendar and one of the most popular live sporting events in South Africa, regularly drawing over 100,000 spectators.
Globally, Emirates has been at the centre of the action from grassroots to professional leagues as the sponsor of the Rugby World Cup since 2007, and it plans to have a prominent presence at the upcoming 2027 World Cup in Australia.
Firmly established as a long-term partner of South African aviation, tourism, and trade, Emirates has served the market for 29 years, connecting over 20 million travellers to/from South Africa with more than 140 destinations on its vast global network via Dubai. The airline serves customers travelling to and from South Africa with 42 weekly flights to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, with additional connectivity to regional points across the country offered by its codeshare and interline partners South African Airways, Airlink, Cemair, and FlySafair.
