Is Emirates introducing a new livery?
Images shared on Twitter have captured an Emirates Airbus A380 sporting a subtly different livery design, with changes primarily relating to the tail of the aircraft.
The pictures showcase one of the airline’s Airbus A380s, registered as A6-EOE, with a new design around the tail and the double-decker’s sharklets, which are now painted in red.
The newest and 3rd change to the @emirates tail since the 90s
A6-EOE, the first aircraft to be painted with the new tail
Yes it looks like the Aeroflot tail but I kinda like it… Hopefully it won’t be a full change rather hope they will keep it A350 exclusive perhaps thoughts? pic.twitter.com/8QBxoy9V6H
A6-EOE has remained at Dubai International Airport (DXB), which is an Emirates hub, since arriving from Melbourne Airport (MEL) on February 28, 2023, presumably for a cabin retrofit.
Previously, A6-EVM left DXB following its cabin retrofit on January 6, 2023, while A6-EUW reentered the airline’s operations on February 12, 2023. The airline also retrofitted the cabins of A6-EVC and A6-EVE, with the two aircraft resuming commercial flights on March 8 and February 23, 2023, respectively, according to planespotters.net data.
Previously, A6-EOE sported a special livery to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), called the Year of the Fiftieth, since October 2021. Between December 2018 and October 2021, the A380 in question was painted in a special livery to promote Expo 2020, which was held in Dubai, the UAE, between October 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.
On March 14, 2023, Emirates announced that it boosted its capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) by 31% since the start of its financial year on April 1, 2022. The DXB-based airline reintroduced services to five cities, introduced a new destination in the form of Tel Aviv, Israel, and added 251 additional flights to current routes.
According to ch-aviation.com data, the airline currently has 83 Airbus A380s active in its fleet, with 33 shown as inactive.
In total, Emirates has 262 aircraft in its fleet, including a total of 116 A380s.