In a highly intriguing development, 
Singapore Airlines has confirmed that the Airbus A380 will be flown to Dubai. Even more unusually, it’ll be used during the summer, when temperatures are boiling hot. It’ll replace the Boeing 777-300ER.
According to Cirium Diio, the 
Star Alliance member had only previously deployed the superjumbo to the ever-popular Middle Eastern destination in April 2024. And even then, only two round-trip services existed. This time, it will run through the whole summer period.
Singapore Airlines’ A380s To Dubai
Now scheduled and available to book, the carrier will deploy the A380 to 
Dubai from March 29. This is the start of the northern aviation summer based on IATA slot seasons. Flights will run daily until October 24, which marks the end of that aviation season.
Singapore Airlines was the launch customer of the A380. According to ch-aviation, the carrier has 12 frames remaining, not all of which are operational. Its oldest remaining superjumbo is the 15.5-year-old 9V-SKM. It was the 65th A380 off the production line, and is the 18th-oldest A380 still flying in usual airline roles. The world’s oldest airline-active superjumbo turns 20 soon.
Each of Singapore Airlines’ A380s has 471 seats: six fully enclosed suites with a double bed (1-1), 78 in business (1-2-1), 44 in premium economy (2-4-2; 38″ pitch), and 343 in economy (3-4-3; 32″ pitch). Its suites are located on the upper deck and provide a huge amount of space. They arguably don’t have ‘true’ double beds, as there’s a partition of sorts between the two beds that form the double offering.
Singapore Airlines Adds 78% More Seats To Dubai
The carrier has served Dubai for many years. According to Cirium, some Dubai flights continued to other places, including Cairo, Istanbul, Jeddah, and Moscow Domodedovo. The Saudi city of Jeddah, which will be instrumental in Saudia’s upcoming A321XLRs, was the most recently served. Flights via Dubai ended in April 2016.
In the past two decades, Singapore Airlines has deployed multiple types and variants on its passenger flights to Dubai. For example, the A330-300, A350-900, A380 (very briefly in 2024), 747-400 (very briefly in 2005 and 2007), 777-200ER, 777-300, and 777-300ER have all been used.
Since May 2025, Singapore Airlines has exclusively used the relatively low-capacity, 264-seat 777-300ER to Dubai. Switching to the 471-seat A380 means an additional 207 seats per flight (+78%). Obviously, this is particularly because of economy (+159 seats; +86%), along with business (+30 seats; +63%) and premium economy (+16 seats; +57%).
Given the swap to much larger aircraft, the schedule has now changed. The new timings are shown below. While the 777-300ER had a turn time of 1h 15m, the significantly larger A380 has 1h 45m. It will be needed.
|
A380 Frequency |
Singapore To Dubai; Local Times* |
Dubai To Singapore; Local Times** |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily |
2:40 pm-6:00 pm |
7:45 pm-7:30 am (next day arrival) |
|
* In April. Shown in Simple Flying’s new time format |
** In April. Shown in Simple Flying’s new time format |
Up To 18h 50m: The Airbus A380’s 10 Longest US Flights
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Singapore-Dubai Will Now Have 4 Daily A380 Flights
Unsurprisingly, 
Emirates also uses the first-class-equipped A380 on the high-yielding city pair. Three of its four daily Changi passenger flights use the type. When added to Singapore Airlines’ new offering, it’ll be one of the few markets worldwide to have four daily A380 services. In April, for example, superjumbo flights will leave Lion City at 12:50 am (Emirates), 10:35 am (Emirates), 6 pm (Singapore Airlines), and 9 pm (Emirates).
According to booking data, the local Dubai-Singapore market has 375,000 passengers in the 12 months to October 2025. Obviously, many people connected to another flight in Dubai and Singapore. For unrelated and unfair context, London Heathrow-Islamabad had 235,000 passengers, yet currently has no nonstop carrier, although that will change soon.
More widely, Qatar Airways recently revealed the A380 would be flown from Doha to Singapore in 2026. Etihad Airways has used its superjumbo from Abu Dhabi to Singapore since early 2025. These operations remain next summer. In all, Singapore will now have a record six daily A380 departures to the Middle East, up from the previous high of five.
