Emirates, one of the world’s fastest-growing international airlines, celebrated the New Year in a ‘big’ way by becoming the first airline to operate a scheduled Airbus A380 service to Malaysia.

The airline’s flagship, operating as EK346, arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to a traditional welcome of a water canon salute.

“We have been eagerly awaiting the start of our Airbus A380 service to Malaysia, a country that we have been operating flights to since 1996,” said Richard Jewsbury, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Far East & Australasia.

The start of 2012 will be a busy time for Emirates. In addition to launching our A380 aircraft on one of our three daily non-stop flights between Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, the airline also expanding its network to include Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro in South America from 3 January and Dublin in Ireland from 9 January 2012.

Emirates operates flights on a daily schedule from Malta to Dubai via Larnaka, Cyprus.