Emirates turns its Airbus A380 into a festive reindeer for Christmas 2025; now called Sleigh380. The airline shared a special video showing the superjumbo with a glowing red nose reminiscent of Rudolph. The airline turned Santa’s sleigh into a long-haul plane.
The plane has huge brown antlers attached to its nose. A decorative wreath is also placed at the point of contact between the antlers and the body of the aircraft.
In an Instagram Reel, an A380 prepares to take off from Dubai International Airport with a belly full of presents for Santa’s “most handsome passengers”.
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Ground personnel are depicted as dnata elves. They were seen loading gifts onto a giant sled attached to the plane. Then it launches the runway and disappears into the winter sky.
With travel peaking at Christmas 2025, the airline expects almost 2.3 million departures and around 2.5 million arrivals. It is one of the busiest times of the year.
It was Emirates’ second Christmas-themed reel this season. Last week the airline featured Andi Peters in a fun video. The popular TV host promoted the special festive meals served on board during the month of December.
All month long, Emirates passengers can enjoy little touches of holiday cheer. There are festive drinks, themed desserts, winter-style airport lounges and even limited edition Christmas gifts.
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On board, passengers can enjoy classic Christmas dishes adapted for flights. The menu includes roasted turkey with chestnut stuffing, truffle au gratin potato and caramelized Brussels sprouts.
There are also premium dishes such as herb-crusted leg of lamb and duck confit with cranberry jus. Desserts include fruitcake, festive mousse and a Santa-style strawberries and cream bowl for first class guests.
Reaction on social networks
Social media users raised the alarm because it didn’t look safe.
“Aviation expert here. Doesn’t seem safe,” wrote one.
“I have some concerns about elves and security,” another user wrote.
“I wanted to laugh but then I remembered I’m flying with Emirates soon…” wrote another.
Another user wrote: “Some will say it’s AI.”
The Emirates Christmas 2025 video is not AI
Although some suspect that the video was shot using artificial intelligence (AI), this is not correct. No, it’s not real either.
The airline has confirmed that the viral Sleigh380 video was not shot by AI. Emirates collaborated with CGI artist Mostafa Eldiasty to create the video. Mostafa, also known as 100 pixels, has created a number of high-quality CGI videos.
According to Emirates, each image was created by hand in collaboration with a digital artist who previously worked on many of their earlier viral visuals of the A380.
The effort paid off. Viewers on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms are enjoying the festive reel.
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Eldiasty even joked in the comments. He asked for a business class seat on the sleigh and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
Previous Emirates Christmas campaigns
Emirates has built a fun holiday tradition with its annual Christmas videos. In 2024, the airline released a viral Instagram Reel titled “Captain Claus”.
It showed an Airbus A380 wearing a huge Santa hat and being pulled along a runway by reindeer. The CGI clip was also created by digital artist Mostafa Eldiasta. It quickly went viral, garnering more than 1.1 million views in the first 24 hours.
In 2023, Emirates created another holiday hit called Hangar Elves. This video used CGI elves working in the Emirates engineering hangar to prepare the aircraft for Christmas.
