Emirates is to increase capacity on the Dubai-Milan route with the deployment of a second daily A380 on October 1.

The migration from a Boeing 777-300ER to the iconic double decker represents a capacity increase of 1,834 seats per week between the two cities; enabling more A380 to A380 connections to and from key destinations in Australia, China, South Korea and South East Asia with just one stop in Dubai.

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: “Emirates deployment of a second A380 to Milan speaks not just to the increased demand on the route, it also signifies the increased utilisation of the A380 fleet on its network for more A380-specific routings on its network.

“Not only will the capacity boost allow passengers to connect onto Emirates JFK service out of Milan‎ if they so should choose, it also underscores the return of more higher yielding traffic within and into Italy, despite some of the economic pressures the country has been grappling with.”

Ahmad added: “The additional seating capacity will likely put pressure on the Etihad-Alitalia partnership but the spin-off beneficiary here will be passengers who get added choice.”