Emirates has announced that it will completely refurbish the cabins of a further 43 A380 and 28 Boeing 777 aircraft in its fleet. This work will expand its retrofit programme to a total of 191 aircraft – the UAE-based carrier’s original plan was for the full refurbishment of 120 aircraft (67 A380s and 53 B777s).
Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline said of the expanded programme: “We’re topping up our multi-billion dollar investment in the retrofit programme to introduce cutting-edge cabin products on more of our A380s and Boeing 777s, demonstrating a clear commitment to elevating the customer experience with a best-in-class suite of products across every cabin. The addition of more aircraft fitted with our newest generation seats, updated cabin finishings and a contemporary colour palette also marks a significant step in ensuring more customers can consistently experience our premium products across both aircraft types.”
Emirates has retrofitted 22 of its A380 aircraft so far, and in July of this year, the first of its Boeing 777s will undergo a cabin interior refresh. Each B777 aircraft will take approximately two weeks to refurbish before entering service. Plans include the refurbishment of the first-class cabin, all new business-class seats making a debut on the aircraft in an updated 1-2-1 seating configuration, in addition to 24 of the latest premium economy seats.
The addition of the premium economy cabin has changed the seat count on Emirates’ B777s, which will be configured with 332 seats in four classes, featuring eight first-class suites, 40 business-class seats, and 260 economy-class seats. 50 economy-class seats will be removed to make room for the new premium economy cabin.
The refurbishment work for the fleet is being managed and executed in-house at Emirates’ engineering centre in UAE, with over 250 project personnel currently working round the clock on the project, supported by 31 major partners and suppliers who have set up workshops both in the facility and offsite to deliver the refreshed cabins.
Once the last aircraft rolls out of the retrofit programme and the project is fully complete, the airline will have installed 8,104 next-generation premium-economy seats, 1,894 refreshed first-class suites, 11,182 upgraded business-class seats, and 21,814 economy-class seats.
Emirates currently operates its refurbished A380 aircraft fitted with premium economy cabins to New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, London Heathrow, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Sao Paulo and Dubai. The airline will be boosting services with the new cabin to Osaka in early June.
The airline will be serving 42 cities with the premium economy option by February 2025, with the A350 entering its fleet in September of this year, and the newly refurbished B777s also slated to begin serving more cities with the cabin class later this summer.
