The Emirates A380 is greeted with a traditional water cannon salute at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.

The Emirates A380 taxiing to the gate at Schiphol airport. This is the first scheduled A380 service to Amsterdam.

Emirates’ extended its A380 route network to the Netherlands yesterday as it launched its inaugural A380 service to Amsterdam.

Emirates is the first carrier to offer a scheduled A380 service to the Netherlands, two years after its first flight to Amsterdam. The double decker will operate as EK 147, departing Dubai to Amsterdam daily, and is the 19th destination among a host of major cities around the world to be served by the Emirates’ A380.

“After progressively building up services to the Netherlands over a course of two years, Emirates is responding to strong demand by bringing its flagship aircraft to one of Europe’s most important trading and logistics hubs, adding much-needed seat capacity – more than 2,000 seats a week- which will stimulate further tourism and trade between the Netherlands, UAE and beyond. The A380 is central to the Emirates strategy. Our orders represent a sizable chunk of the total programme worldwide  and Emirates has played a key role in the design and performance characteristics of the aircraft, which have become our signature markers in the industry,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide.

“We are seamlessly connecting passengers to our extensive route network which includes 10 Indian cities, 21 African destinations, and key points across the Far East and Australia. Emirates is also enabling customers to continue their A380 experience via our hub in Dubai to popular destinations like Sydney, Bangkok and Hong Kong,” he added.
  
Emirates is the largest A380 operator in the world and has now carried more than 10 million passengers since the double decker was introduced to its fleet in August 2008. The airline’s A380 operations are supported by more than 3,000 dedicated cabin crew, as well as Emirates’ state-of-the-art facilities at Dubai International Airport which will soon be augmented by the opening of the world’s first dedicated A380 terminal early next year.

The carrier’s 22 A380s now serve Amsterdam,  Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Manchester, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, Tokyo, with Melbourne  set to launch on 1 October and Moscow on 1 December.

Each Emirates’ A380 offers an Onboard Lounge on the upper deck for Premium Class passengers to mingle, relax and even do business. First Class passengers have the added luxury of indulging in any of the two Emirates’ signature Shower Spas available onboard its A380s.

On the Dubai-Amsterdam route, the aircraft is arranged in a three-class configuration with 427 seats in Economy Class, 76 fully flat-bed, mini-pods in Business Class and 14 First Class Private Suites. Passengers across all cabins can lose themselves in Emirates’ award-winning Digital Widescreen inflight entertainment system ice, which offers over 1,400 choices of channels. They can also stay connected to the internet throughout their journey with the high speed Wi-Fi access.

Passengers travelling with Emirates on the A380 and all its other aircraft will be able to benefit from a generous baggage allowance of 30kg in Economy Class, 40kg in Business Class and 50 kg in First Class.

EK 147 leaves Dubai at 0825hrs and arrives in Amsterdam Schiphol at 1330hrs. The return double decker service, EK148, departs Amsterdam at 1530hrs and lands in Dubai at 2359hrs.
Passengers flying out of Singapore can fly to Dubai, before connecting seamlessly to EK 147 to Amsterdam.

Currently, Emirates has a fleet of 178 aircraft flying to more than 120 destinations in 74 countries and has a further 225 aircraft on order worth over US $62 billion. Over the course of the next few months, Emirates will be launching five more destinations: Erbil, Washington, D.C, Lyon, Adelaide and Warsaw. 

Emirates SkyCargo has been serving Amsterdam with freighters for more than 17 years. Some of the key commodities carried include flowers from Africa, fruits and vegetables, silk, leather, and telecoms equipment, amongst others.  Over 16.5 million kg of cargo was transported between Dubai and Amsterdam in 2011.

The Dutch capital is the 5th largest economy in the Eurozone, known for its key role as a logistics and trade centre. The UAE and the Netherlands have a buoyant trade relationship which reached AED 6.2 billion (US $1.7 billion) in 2011.