
Dubai-based carrier Emirates maintains one of the world’s most impressive and expansive networks out of its Dubai International Airport (DXB) hub. Coming in as the world’s second-busiest airport in 2024, Emirates flies to over 130 destinations worldwide from DXB, with connections as far as Australia, New Zealand, South America and the United States.
With a fleet consisting entirely of widebody aircraft – the Airbus A380, Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 – Emirates has a handful of routes that clock in at over 8,000 miles (12,875 km), with its longest pairing measuring over 8,800 miles (14,162 km). As per data from aviation analytics company Cirium, Emirates has five routes over 8,000 miles, one of which is to New Zealand and the other four to the United States. So, what is the Emirati carrier’s longest route?
Dubai-Auckland: The Longest Emirates Route
Emirates has an 8,810-mile (14,180 km) connection with New Zealand’s Auckland Airport (AKL), which operates on a daily frequency with its Airbus A380 fleet. This city pairing has a typical flight time of 15 hours and 45 minutes on the outbound and over 17 hours on the return leg.
Having halted A380 flights due to the pandemic, Emirates returned its flagship aircraft to Auckland in late 2022 after almost three years away. It uses its four-class ‘Ultra Long Range’ 484-seater Airbus A380s on this route, which feature a higher density of premium seats as well as the airline’s premium economy product.
Emirates Four-Class A380 |
Seats |
---|---|
First |
14 |
Business |
76 |
Premium Economy |
56 |
Economy |
338 |
Total |
484 |
While the Dubai-based carrier first flew to Auckland in 2003, its direct service was inaugurated in 2016. When it first flew this route, Emirates would first stopover in Australia (either Melbourne or Sydney) before continuing to Auckland, but eventually launched a direct connection less than a decade ago. Emirates also flies to New Zealand’s Christchurch Airport (CHC) – the country’s second-busiest airport behind Auckland – but this is via a stopover in Sydney.
This route ranks as one of the ten longest direct commercial services in the world, currently in 7th place, just behind Qatar Airways’ Doha-Auckland pairing. However, with all the longer routes above it deploying different aircraft types (primarily the A350 or 787 Dreamliner), Dubai-Auckland is the world’s longest Airbus A380 route. Emirates is currently the only A380 operator at Auckland, but Singapore Airlines will be returning its superjumbos to AKL in January 2026.
All 8,000-Mile Emirates Routes
As mentioned, Emirates has a total of five routes over 8,000 miles. With Dubai-Auckland as the longest, the remaining four routes are all to the United States, namely Los Angeles (LAX), Houston (IAH), San Francisco (SFO) and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). All of these services operate daily, and all but DFW have daily A380 flights.
In the case of Dallas/Fort Worth, Emirates uses its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft instead, which significantly reduces its seat capacity on this route by 156 seats per departure compared to the A380. The airline is flying its retrofitted four-class 777-300ERs that can seat up to 328 passengers, featuring eight first class, 40 business class, 24 premium economy, and 256 economy seats Earlier this year, the airline chose this route to debut its new premium economy product as part of its massive $4 billion retrofit program.
# |
Route |
Distance |
Aircraft Type |
Weekly Departures |
Weekly Seats (Both Ways) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Dubai – Auckland |
8,810 miles (14,180 km) |
Airbus A380 |
7 |
6,776 |
2 |
Dubai – Los Angeles |
8,334 miles (13,410 km) |
Airbus A380 |
7 |
6,776 |
3 |
Dubai – Houston |
8,165 miles (13,140 km) |
Airbus A380 |
7 |
6,776 |
4 |
Dubai – San Francisco |
8,101 miles (13,040 km) |
Airbus A380 |
7 |
6,776 |
5 |
Dubai – Dallas/Fort Worth |
8,038 miles (12,940 km) |
Boeing 777-300ER |
7 |
4,592 |
Emirates flies to a dozen cities in the US, with seven of its 12 routes operated by the Boeing 777. As for its five US-bound A380 routes, this includes the three destinations above (Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco) as well as New York JFK and Washington Dulles.

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Comparing The Emirates Fleet
For many years, Emirates flew just two aircraft families – the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777. However, in January 2025, it debuted a new aircraft type in the Airbus A350, which was the first new type to join Emirates since 2008. The A350-900 will, besides its small fleet of 10 two-class 777-200LRs, become the lowest-capacity aircraft in the Emirates fleet at up to 312 passengers across three cabin classes.
As the most numerous aircraft types in its fleet, the first thing to note is that Emirates hasn’t stuck to a single default configuration for its A380s and 777-300ERs. It offers from two to four cabin classes on both aircraft types, with its highest-density two-class variants seating up to 615 on the A380 or 426 on the 777-300ER.
Aircraft Type |
Passenger Capacity Range |
Cabin Classes |
---|---|---|
Airbus A380 |
484 – 615 |
Two-class, Three-class & Four-class |
Boeing 777-200LR |
302 |
Two-class |
Boeing 777-300ER |
354 – 426 |
Two-class, Three-class & Four-class |
Airbus A350-900 |
312 |
Three-class |
The A350-900 has an impressive range of 9,320 miles (15,000 km), putting it behind only the 777-200LR in Emirates’ fleet reach. While it won’t feature the airline’s first class product, it will offer 32 of its next-generation business class seats, as well as 21 premium economy and 259 economy seats. The A350 is currently deployed on Emirates’ short and medium-haul network – flying to cities such as Amman, Bahrain, Ho Chi Minh City, Istanbul and Kuwait – and will soon make its first appearance in Australia.
Inside The World’s Longest A380 Routes
With the majority of in-service A380s today flying under Emirates, the carrier predictably operates most of the world’s longest A380 routes too. Emirates has almost 120 Airbus A380s today, which is approximately two-thirds of the global fleet – other notable operators of the type include British Airways, Qantas, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways.
Emirates is rivaled only by Qantas (given the Australian carrier’s geographic position) in long-distance A380 flights, but still holds four of the top five longest direct A380 routes. In terms of non-stop routes, Dubai-Auckland remains on top, but if including stopovers, Qantas’ Sydney-Singapore-London route is the longest at 9,274 miles (17,175 km).
# |
Route |
Airline |
Distance (miles / km) |
---|---|---|---|
1 |
Auckland (AKL) – Dubai (DXB) |
Emirates |
8,810 miles (14,180 km) |
2 |
Dubai (DXB) – Los Angeles (LAX) |
Emirates |
8,334 miles (13,410 km) |
3 |
Dubai (DXB) – Houston (IAH) |
Emirates |
8,165 miles (13,140 km) |
4 |
Dubai (DXB) – San Francisco (SFO) |
Emirates |
8,101 miles (13,040 km) |
5 |
Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL) |
Qantas |
7,971 miles (12,825 km) |
Other notable long-distance A380 routes include Qatar Airways’s Doha-Sydney service and Emirates’ pairing between Dubai and São Paulo, currently the only A380 service in South America.

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What Are The World’s Longest Direct Routes?
Of the world’s top ten busiest direct routes, the only A380 service is Dubai-Auckland with Emirates. The longest nonstop commercial route in the world is Singapore Airlines’ flagship pairing between Singapore Changi and New York JFK International, closely followed by its flights to nearby Newark Liberty International. These flights are operated by the airline’s A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range) fleet, a model specially built for Singapore Airlines.
The A350-900ULR is currently the longest-range commercial aircraft in service, boasting a maximum range of 11,000 miles (18,000 km). This model can achieve an additional 1,900 km of range on the normal A350-900, a capability achieved through modifying its fuel system without any additional fuel tanks.
# |
Route |
Airline |
Aircraft |
Distance |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
New York (JFK) – Singapore |
Singapore Airlines |
Airbus A350 |
9,527 miles (15,332 km) |
2 |
Newark (EWR) – Singapore |
Singapore Airlines |
Airbus A350 |
9,525 miles (15,329 km) |
3 |
Los Angeles – Singapore |
Singapore Airlines |
Airbus A350 |
8,759 miles (14,096 km) |
4 |
Dallas – Melbourne |
Qantas Airways |
Boeing 787-9 |
8,992 miles (14,468 km) |
5 |
Perth – London (LHR) |
Qantas Airways |
Boeing 787-9 |
9,009 miles (14,499 km) |
6 |
Auckland – Doha |
Qatar Airways |
Boeing 777-200LR |
9,027 miles (14,526 km) |
7 |
Auckland – Dubai |
Emirates |
Airbus A380 |
8,819 miles (14,193 km) |
8 |
Paris (CDG) – Perth |
Qantas Airways |
Boeing 787-9 |
8,862 miles (14,265 km) |
9 |
Shenzhen – Mexico City |
China Southern |
Airbus A350 |
8,779 miles (14,124 km) |
10 |
Auckland – New York (JFK) |
Air New Zealand |
Boeing 787-9 |
8,829 miles (14,209 km) |
The number one spot held by Singapore Airlines will be relinquished soon, with Qantas set to jump into the top position when its much-anticipated ‘Project Sunrise’ is realized. The airline plans to fly direct from Sydney to London and New York, among other ultra-long-haul routes, and is due to take delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000ULR jets within the next 18 months.
