Emirates Airbus A380 registered A6-EDK on medical diversion to Athens

An Emirates Airbus A380 performing flight EK017 from DXB (Dubai, UAE) to MAN (Manchester, UK) had to divert to Athens today due to a medical emergency. According to the pilot's transmission a 47 year old female passenger had a stroke while enroute near Istanbul on FL380 and the pilots chose to divert to Athens. This is the first ever A380 visit to Athens and as expected a lot of people had gathered to watch its arrival and departure. The plane, registration A6-EDK, landed at 12:20L on runway 21L and taxied to gate A13. Two hours later, it departed from Athens and continued its journey towards Manchester.

Airbus A380 / A6-EDK / first touchdown of an A380 in Athens

Airbus A380 / A6-EDK / slowing down on runway 21L

Airbus A380 / A6-EDK / taking of from runway 21L

Emirates reduces flights between Dubai and Athens

Effective 25OCT09 Emirates will reduce its flights between Athens and Dubai. It should be noted that the second daily flight was added only a few months ago.

The revised schedule is as follows :

EK105 DXB1005 - 1320ATH Operates Daily (1356 with 77W, 247 with 332)
EK103 DXB1730 - 2055ATH Operates 2357 (with 332)

EK106 ATH1550 - 2200DXB Operates Daily (1356 with 77W, 247 with 332)
EK104 ATH2225 -0440*DXB Operates 2357 (with 332)

Emirates A340-500 used to Athens (A6-ERI)

Emirates flight 105/106 on 4/4/2009 was scheduled to be operated with an Airbus A340-300. Instead, due to a last minute change at Dubai airport, the Airbus A340-500 registered A6-ERI at the photo below was used!
Thanks to Alex for the photo!

Airbus A340-500 / A6-ERI / surprising visit in ATH

Emirates used an A340-300 to Athens (A6-ERP)

Surprisingly Emirates used an Airbus A340-300 on the today's EK 105/106 flights instead of the usual Boeing 777-300ER. It's one of the very few times that an Emirates A343 is coming to Athens. Fortunatelly, according to the Emirates website schedule, it is going to come again on 2/4, 4&5/4 and 8-12/4 on the EK 105/106 flights.
The full equipment schedule for EK 105/106 of April is as follow:
We 1/4 B772
Th 2/4 A343
Fr 3/4 A332
Sa 4/4 A343
Su 5/4 A343
Mo 6/4 B773ER
Tu 7/4 B773ER
We 8/4 A343
Th 9/4 A343
Fr 10/4 A343
Sa 11/4 A343
Su 12/4 A343
Mo 13/4 B773ER
Tu 14/4 B772
We 15/4 B773ER
Th 16/4 B773ER
Fr 17/4 B773ER
Sa 18/4 B773ER
Su 19/4 B772
Mo 20/4 until the end of April B773ER
The second daily flight to DXB (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), EK 103/104, is scheduled to be operated always with an Airbus A330-200.

Airbus A340-300 / A6-ERP / the rarely used A343 departing from Athens airport