World's biggest jet liner heads for Birmingham

The giant jet liner, which can carry more than 600 passengers at a time, will be flying to and from Dubai every lunchtime from March 27.

Airport bosses are overjoyed at the news, which is seen as a major feather in the airport's cap as it finishes up a year likely to see it handle 10 million passengers for the first time in its 77-year history.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, said: "This is really great news for the Airport and our community. The A380 will not only give an additional 188 seats a day from Birmingham but will also offer customers that want to experience the magnificent A380 aircraft an opportunity to now do so from the Midlands region and I'm certain that the service, just like the programme spanning 15 years from Birmingham Airport, will be hugely successful.

"We would like to thank Emirates for its commitment to our region," he added.

Laurie Berryman, Emirates' UK vice president,said: "In 15 years of operating at Birmingham, Emirates has experienced exceptional levels of growth driven by an increase in demand from the Midlands.

"The A380 is hugely popular amongst our passengers as it provides a unique level of service that has become synonymous with the Emirates brand. We are very excited to be the first airline to introduce the iconic A380 into the region and look forward to more of our customers enjoying the experience of flying on the world's largest passenger aircraft.

"The launch of the new service, combined with our ongoing investment into the region, represents the huge significance we place on Birmingham and its role as a gateway to Dubai and across the globe. As we move into 2016, we look forward to another 15 successful years in the Midlands."

Emirates will be replacing the current Boeing 777 on the lunchtime service into Birmingham with a two-class Airbus A380, carrying 557 passengers in Economy Class and 58 in Business Class.

Birmingham will be the fifth route operating the new two-class A380 since it was unveiled at the Dubai Airshow in November by Emirates. The upgrade will increase daily capacity to and from the region by 15 per cent and means Emirates will now offer 77 A380 flights into the UK each week, more than any other country on the Emirates network.

Aside from those travelling to Dubai, many passengers flying from Birmingham with Emirates also travel on to Islamabad, Bangkok, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

Emirates first launched its route to Birmingham Airport on 18 December 2000. As passenger numbers have risen, Emirates has added more aircraft to the route, including a third daily service introduced this year.