Zurich Set To Get 2nd Emirates A380 Come Winter, Loses Gatwick

Intro

If there has been one airline in the world that has somehow made the A380 economically feasible, it is Emirates. However, there is an interesting change of plans here for the winter season, as Emirates is set to drop an A380 service and hand it over to Zurich...

The Details

As of January 2026, Emirates has decided to pull one of the three daily A380 services from Dubai to London Gatwick, due to low demand during the winter season. Rather than cutting the service, it will now be replaced by a 4-class 777-300ER going forward. The flight affected is as follows:

EK11: Dubai-Gatwick departing at 2:40 am and arriving at 6:40 am

EK12: Gatwick-Dubai departing at 9:40 am and arriving at 8:30 pm

Emirates is deciding to shake things up on the A380 front

Come February 2026, Emirates will now be going toe-to-toe with Swiss Airlines (1x daily service) in the market, by offering 2x daily services from Dubai to Zurich on their A380. The airline already offered an evening flight onboard the A380, but the following inbound redeye will change for the upcoming schedule:

• EK87: Dubai to Zurich departing at 8:25 am and arriving at 12:25 pm

• EK86: Zurich to Dubai departing at 9:50 pm and arriving at 7:05 am (+1 day)

Why The Shift?

Looking at the timing of this shift, it seems that there are a few key reasons here as to why Emirates has decided to shift its A380 service from Gatwick to Zurich. These are my theories (Emirates has not stated officially why):

• Ski Season. Let's be honest, ski season is highly profitable for airlines around the world, and with breaks ranging from school to school and work, people flock to the slopes to get their game on.

• Financial reasons. Simply looking at it on paper, it seems that the loads go down to Gatwick in the winter, and there is more demand to Zurich which is a financially wealthy hub in terms of flyers.

If you have any more opinions as to why, I would love to know...

Final Thoughts

Emirates has announced that it will be cutting one of its A380 services to Gatwick come wintertime, and adding Zurich in February, as ski season reaches peak time. Considering the lack of demand for Gatwick during winter, this seems like a sensible move.