Emirates carried out the first-ever Airbus A380 visit to Jakarta on 8 August, landing at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for a one-off special operation tied to AC Milan’s pre-season tour in Indonesia. The superjumbo then departed shortly after midnight on 9 August with the Italian club on board after its friendly against Chelsea FC.
The special flight was a rare use of the A380 on the Jakarta route, where Emirates normally operates 14 weekly services with other aircraft types. The carrier had positioned the move as a standalone operation rather than the start of a regular A380 schedule for the Indonesian capital.
The arrival gave Soekarno-Hatta its first handling of Emirates’ largest passenger aircraft, a notable test of the airport’s long-haul and ground-handling capability. Reports from the airport operator indicated the return leg, EK359, was fuelled in Jakarta before the aircraft headed back to Dubai, underscoring the logistical scale of the charter-style movement.