Emirates will be upgrading one of its four daily flights between Dubai and Johannesburg to an Airbus A380-800 from February 2017.

Emirates currently uses Boeing 777 aircraft for each of the four daily flights between the two cities, making it the busiest route in the airline’s African network with over three million passengers carried in the last five years.

Once launched, Johannesburg will join more than 40 destinations in Emirates’ extensive global network that is served by its flagship A380 aircraft.

The A380 will offer a total of 516 seats in a three class cabin configuration, with 14 private suites in First Class, 76 mini pods with lie-flat seats in Business Class and 426 spacious seats in Economy Class.

It will be deployed on the first flight of the day, EK761, and will depart Dubai at 04:40 and arrive in Johannesburg at 10:55. The return flight, EK762, will depart Johannesburg at 13:25 and arrive in Dubai at 23:45.

Emirates first started services to South Africa 21 years ago and in addition to the four daily flights between Dubai and Johannesburg, it also offers three daily flights between Dubai and Cape Town, and a daily flight between Dubai and Durban, enabling global connectivity for South African travellers through its worldwide network of more than 150 destinations.

The A380 service will be operated as codeshare with South African Airways as with all other Emirates’ services to South Africa.