Emirates (Dubai) has received delivery of its 43^rd and 44^th A380 aircraft with a double delivery from Airbus’ Finkenwerder facility in Hamburg, Germany.

The 43^rd (A6-EER) and 44^th Emirates (A6-EES) A380s offer 14 seats in First Class, 76 seats in Business Class and 427 seats in Economy Class, and were put into service starting on December 21, initially operating on flights to Mauritius and Munich.

Both aircraft were handed over to the carrier on December 19.

Emirates operates the world’s largest fleet of A380s, flying one in three of these modern jets in the skies today. Emirates was the first airline to order the aircraft back in 2000, and it ordered another 50 more at the Dubai Air Show in November.  In 2013, Emirates received 13 A380 aircraft and it expects to receive another 13 in 2014. The airline still has 96 more A380s worth $43 billion on order, of which 71 are expected to be delivered over the next five years, before the end of 2018.

From its Dubai hub and dedicated A380 terminal, Emirates’ A380s crisscross the globe flying to 24 destinations spanning Los Angeles to Auckland. Illustrating the range of the A380, Emirates’ currently operates the world’s longest nonstop A380 service (13,414 kilometers), with its daily A380 flight between Dubai and Los Angeles, launched earlier this month.  Emirates’ shortest A380 flight is between Bangkok and Hong Kong, clocking 1,900 kilometers.

Emirates’ current A380 destinations are:  Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Manchester, Mauritius, Melbourne, Moscow, Munich, New York JFK, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, and Brisbane.

Emirates will start operating scheduled A380 services to Zurich from January 2014.

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Video: Emirates is now flying the A380 to the Mauritius islands, its 24th destination for the type: