Emirates' special Christmas 2025 flight with huge antlers, glowing red nose raises safety concerns: No, it's not AI

Emirates has transformed its Airbus A380 into a festive reindeer for Christmas 2025; it is now called Sleigh380. The airline shared a special video that shows the superjumbo with a glowing red nose, reminiscent of Rudolph. The airline has turned Santa’s sleigh into a long-haul aircraft.

The aircraft has huge brown antlers fixed on top of its nose section. There is also a decorative wreath placed where the antlers meet the aircraft body.

In the Instagram Reel, the A380 prepares to take off from Dubai International Airport with a belly full of gifts for Santa’s “nicest passengers”.

The ground staff are shown as dnata elves. They were seen loading presents onto a giant sleigh attached to the aircraft. Then, it powers down the runway and vanishes into the winter sky.

With Christmas 2025 travel at its peak, the airline expects nearly 2.3 million departures and around 2.5 million arrivals. It is one of the busiest periods 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.

Throughout the month, Emirates passengers can enjoy small touches of holiday joy. There are festive drinks, themed desserts, winter-style airport lounges and even limited-edition Christmas gifts.

Onboard, travellers can enjoy classic Christmas dishes adapted for flights. The menu includes roasted turkey with chestnut stuffing, truffle potato gratin and caramelised Brussels sprouts.

There are also premium meals, such as herb-crusted lamb shank and duck confit with cranberry jus. Desserts include fruitcake, festive mousse and a Santa-style strawberry and cream dish for First Class guests.

Social media reactions

Social media users raised an alarm as it did not look safe.

“Aviation expert here. This doesn’t seem safe,” posted one of them.

“I have some Elf and Safety concerns,” wrote another user.

“I wanted to laugh but then i remembered im flying Emirates soon..” posted another.

Another user wrote, “Some will say this is AI.”

Emirates' Christmas 2025 video is not AI

While some do suspect the video was made with artificial intelligence (AI), that’s not correct. No, it’s not real either.

The airline has confirmed that the viral Sleigh380 video was not made with AI. Emirates has collaborated with CGI artist Mostafa Eldiasty to create the video. Mostafa, also known as 100 Pixels, has created numerous high-quality CGI videos.

According to Emirates, every frame was created by hand in partnership with the digital artist, who had earlier worked on many of their earlier A380 viral visuals.

The effort has paid off. Viewers on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms are enjoying the festive reel.

Eldiasty has even joked in the comments. He has asked for a Business Class seat on the sleigh and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

Emirates’ previous 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 the runway by reindeer. The CGI clip was also made by digital artist Mostafa Eldiasty. It quickly went viral, garnering more than 1.1 million views within the first 24 hours.

In 2023, Emirates created another festive hit called Hangar Elves. This video used CGI elves working inside an Emirates engineering hangar to prepare the aircraft for Christmas.