The Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo made its first appearance in the Philippines since 2014 on Thursday.
The Dubai airline put on a one-off service to Clark International Airport, in Luzon, to help meet demand to and from the country, carrying more than 400 passengers.
The plane was greeted by a traditional water cannon salute and the Secretary of Department of Transportation, Arthur Tugade, was given a tour of the cabin on what was the A380's first landing at Clark.
"We would like to thank the authorities in the Philippines for their continuous support that has been crucial to our success since we began our operations here," said Satish Sethi, country manager for Emirates in the Philippines.
"Our most sincere gratitude also goes to them for making this exceptional flight possible, allowing us to take advantage of efficiencies and greater capacity on a route where flights remain in high demand."
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Where Emirates is now flying to:
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MIDDLE EAST: Amman, Jordan. All images courtesy Unsplash unless otherwise stated -
The corniche in Beirut. Lebanon faces its worst financial crisis since 1943. Alamy -
Bahrain -
Tehran, Iran -
Kuwait. Unsplash -
Basra, Iraq. Unsplash -
The Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Iraq. AFP -
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AFP -
AUSTRALASIA: Sydney, Australia -
Perth, Australia. Getty Images -
Brisbane, Australia -
Auckland, New Zealand -
ASIA: Islamabad, Pakistan. EPA -
Colombo, Sri Lanka -
Bangkok, Thailand -
Peshawar, Pakistan. EPA -
Sialkot, Pakistan. Unsplash -
Kabul, Afghanistan -
Male, Maldives -
Lahore, Pakistan -
Dhaka, Bangladesh. -
Karachi, Pakistan. EPA -
The Seychelles. Unsplash -
EUROPE: Amsterdam, The Netherlands -
Brussels, Belgium -
Lisbon, Portugal. Unsplash -
Copenhagen, Denmark -
Athens, Greece -
Geneva, Switzerland -
Barcelona, Spain -
London, UK -
Dublin, Ireland -
Glasgow, Scotland -
Frankfurt, Germany -
Larnaca, Cyprus. Pictured is Ayia Napa, 45 minutes away. -
Milan, Italy -
Madrid, Spain -
Manchester, UK -
Paris, France -
Munich, Germany -
Oslo, Norway -
Vienna, Austria -
Stockholm, Sweden -
Zurich, Switzerland -
Prague, Czech Republic -
Rome, Italy. EPA -
FAR EAST: Hanoi, Vietnam -
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam -
Hong Kong. -
Guangzhou, China. -
Singapore. -
Jakarta, Indonesia. -
Osaka, Japan. -
Taipei, Taiwan. -
Manila, Philippines. -
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. -
Clark, the Philippines. Getty Images -
Tokyo, Japan -
Pandanon Island, Cebu, Philippines. Unsplash -
Seoul, South Korea -
AMERICAS: Washington, US. -
New York, US -
Houston, Texas. Unsplash -
Toronto, Canada -
Boston, US -
Los Angeles, US -
Chicago, US -
Sao Paulo, Brazil. -
AFRICA: Tunis, Tunisia -
Cairo, Egypt -
National Park, Nairobi, Kenya. Unsplash -
Accra, Ghana. Courtesy Marriott International -
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -
South Luangwa national park in Zambia. -
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania -
Dakar, Senegal. Reuters -
Khartoum, Sudan. Reuters
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The Emirates A380 has resumed operations to five destinations so far following its grounding due to the coronavirus pandemic. These are London Heathrow, Paris, Cairo, Guangzhou and Toronto.
Emirates restarted flights to Manila on June 11 with daily flights, and to Clark on August 1 with six weekly fights. It will resume operations to Cebu on Thursday, August 20 and will take its total destinations served to 75 in September.
The airline has been serving the Philippines since 1990 and inaugurated its first service to Clark in 2016.
Its A380 made its first trip to the Philippines when it flew a one-off flight to Manila in 2014. Sethi added that Emirates hopes "to see it soon as a regular scheduled service to the country".
