Emirates Will Fly World's (New) Shortest A380 Route, at Just 235 Miles

Emirates is known for their huge A380 fleet, and how decked out their cabins are. Business and First Class passengers get access to the onboard bar, and First Class passengers have a shower spa. Emirates have mostly deployed the A380 routes on long-haul flights, but there are also some short flights, like Hong Kong to Bangkok, or Dubai to Jeddah.

About 2 years ago, Emirates announced the shortest route operated by the A380, Dubai (DXB) to Kuwait (KWI), at just 530 miles. They even made a video about how they tried to maximize the service on that route.

they announced that they will be flying the A380 on an even shorter route…Dubai (DXB) to Doha (DOH). At just 235 miles, this flight will be the new, world’s shortest route operated by the A380 when it begins on December 1, 2016. Emirates isn’t actually launching a whole new route or an additional service. Rather, they are upgrading one of nine daily flights to an A380. The outbound clocks in at just 1 hour and 20 minutes, while the inbound is blocked for 1 hours and 10 minutes.

• EK 841: Dubai (DXB) – Doha (DOH), 0745/0805
• EK 842: Doha (DOH) – Dubai (DXB), 0950/1200

Emirates does already serve a meal on this (really) short flight, and I don’t think the a change in equipment make a difference. First Class passengers get a hot breakfast on the outbound, while Business Class passengers will receive a continental cold plate breakfast. In their press release, they are still advertising the onboard bar for this short flight, so that will remain open for guests, which I am surprised by. However, they didn’t mention the shower spa, so I suspect that very understandably won’t be available (or really necessary) on the short flight.

Doha is the hub of Qatar Airways, one of the “big three” Middle East carrier. I am not sure if this move by Emirates is a gesture off some sort, trying to show off some dominance.  They could also really just be increasing capacity, or trying to draw business from Doha-based customers connecting beyond Dubai, who can now fly the giant double-decker all the way.