Emirates to stop flying Airbus A380s to JFK

Dubai-based airline Emirates, one of only two airlines in the world right now flying the new Airbus A380, is halting flights of the superjumbo to New York until the economy picks back up.

Instead, starting on June 1 Emirates will replace the A380 with smaller Boeing 777s on its daily Dubai-JFK run.

This comes seven months after Emirates made its inaugural A380 flight to JFK last August, the first carrier to operate flights on the plane. The airport has spent close to $180 million upgrading runways in anticipation that more airlines will soon be flying the world’s largest airplanes, which so far hasn’t been the case.

Emirates will continue flying an A380 on its Dubai-Bangkok and Dubai-Toronto routes.

The only other airline flying the superjumbos right now is Qantas.