Emirates A380 touches down in the Philippines for first time since 2014

The special one-off service was greeted by a water cannon salute

Emirates A380 is greeted by water canon in the Philippines. Courtesy Emirates

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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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".