Does anyone know if Emirates plans to change the aircraft on the EK418 flight (CHC-SYD-BKK-DXB) from a 777-300ER to an A380 in the near future?

Does anyone know if Emirates plans to change the aircraft on the EK418 flight (CHC-SYD-BKK-DXB) from a 777-300ER to an A380 in the near future? Emirates will then be the only airline to operate all A380 flights to Sydney. I'm travelling in October on this flight, so I'm hoping that they change it to an A380 as I couldn't get on the later A380 flight from Sydney. Any thoughts guys?

Can CHC take an A380?

Yes CHC has two A380 capable gates, but I don't think any A380s fly there yet. 

No mate still the cramped 777

It's possible in the future, but I doubt it before Oct. They only just announced the upgrade of the 2nd B777 to an A380 in June... that's a few extra seats to fill and would be a lot of extra seats if they changed the CHC-SYD-BKK-DXB to an A380 too.

I also understand that EK's tasman's services have pretty low load factors in comparison to other routes, so can't see the logic in flying another A380 to NZ... especially a secondary market like CHC.

If EK was to bring another A380 to SYD, I reckon they'd do another SYD>DXB direct and have a 4th daily flight... but if that happened, I say its years away not months.

Yes I agree. It is highly unlikely that Emirates will start another service from Sydney to Dubai, as Qantas their primary codeshare partner is operating a once daily flight, making 4 flights from Sydney a day to Dubai. 

This is from ATW today regarding's EK's next A380 plans:

Emirates Airline’s Airbus A380 is still not allowed to serve in India, one of its strongest markets. The Indian government has banned overseas carriers from flying aircraft bigger than the Boeing 747 into the country.

“The Indian market, which is huge for us, since May 2008 has been capped in terms of seats and the number of points we can serve,” Emirates president Tim Clark told ATW. “This is ridiculous because we have many travelers via Dubai to points which you cannot reach from India. We should have at least five or six additional points in India. Emirates has suggested this to the Indian government. It is a shame that we are not able to increase our presence in India,” Clark said.

Emirates operates to 10 destinations in India. “We have seen in the last four years that Indian carriers have grown business; Kingfisher is gone from the scene.”

India has not acted on requests to change regulations on very large aircraft. Clark hopes that bilateral talks between the United Arab Emirates and India will go forward to improve the situation.

Emirates also faces limited access to China, which it currently serves on routes from Dubai 32X a week, including one daily A380 service to Beijing. “Our request is to serve more points and frequencies, including the wish to operate A380s to Shanghai Pudong. So far we are not able to get more access to capture growing demand,” Clark said, adding the carrier would like to add “up to four more points in China.”

Clark said Barcelona and Glasgow are the next A380 destinations on Emirates’ radar

Thanks for your help everyone!