Emirates Airlines has announced that it will reintroduce its flagship A380 aircraft to the Dubai-Casablanca route as part of its ramping up of operations to Morocco.

With tourism traffic to Moroccan destinations like Casablanca and Marrakesh rising sharply after the pandemic, Emirates Airlines is increasing its capacity on its Dubai-Casablanca flight from April.

Emirates says that starting April 15, the airline will replace the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft currently used between Dubai and Casablanca with its flagship A380 to meet growing demand on the route. The A380 service, operating as EK751 departs from Dubai at 07:30, arriving in Casablanca at 12:55. EK 752 departs from Casablanca at 14:45 to arrive in Dubai at 01:15 the following day.

The enhancement of capacity between Casablanca and Dubai will offer leisure and business travellers more opportunities to connect to Dubai and beyond to cities across the Middle East and GCC, Europe, the Americas and West Asia.

In a press statement, the airline says that the flagship A380s deployment to Morocco is also a testament of the airline’s commitment to support inbound visitor arrivals as the country double downs its efforts to reinvigorate its tourism industry. Last year, Emirates enhanced its partnership with Royal Air Maroc to a codeshare, providing more travel options and connection choices for customers of both airlines between Dubai and Casablanca, and beyond.

Casablanca is a popular leisure destination on Emirates’ global network, and demand on the route has seen steady growth since being launched in March 2002. The airline has been operating to Morocco for over 20 years, and has carried more than 3.5 million passengers on the route.

The statement adds that the Emirates A380 experience remains highly sought after by travellers, with the spacious double-decked aircraft offering 14 First Class suites and 76 lie-flat seats in Business Class, as well as 401 seats in Economy Class. Customers travelling to and from Casablanca can look forward to enjoying Emirates’ spacious and comfortable cabins, signature products that offer travellers the best experiences in the sky like the Onboard Lounge, First Class suites, Shower Spa, and regional cuisine including a number of Moroccan dishes.

The airline has been gradually accelerating the deployment of its flagship A380 aircraft in line with growing demand for air travel. Emirates currently deploys its flagship A380 to 40 destinations worldwide. By the end of this summer, the popular aircraft will be serving almost 50 destinations, which represents close to 90 pc of the airline’s pre-pandemic A380 network.

The upgrade of A380 services to Casablanca also means the flagship now flies to three destinations in Africa together with Johannesburg and Cairo.