Emirates has announced that it will retrofit an additional 71 aircraft, taking the total number of retrofitted aircraft to 191.
Retrofit programme expanded
As part of this expanded retrofit programme, Emirates will now have 110 Airbus A380s and 81 Boeing B777s retrofitted with the airline’s latest seats. It seems that Emirates will keep flying the A380 well into the 2030s. This has been signalled multiple times by Sir Tim Clark, the President of Emirates, that the A380 will be in the airline’s fleet for 20 more years, “as there’s no viable replacement”.
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.
Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline said.
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Retrofit programme details
Emirates has retrofitted 22 A380 aircraft so far, and in July of this year, the first Boeing B777 will undergo an interior refresh. Each Boeing 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.
Emirates’ updated B777s will feature four classes for a total of 332 seats – 8 First Class suites, 40 Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 260 standard Economy Class seats. To make room for the new Premium Economy cabin, 50 Economy seats will be removed.
Refurbishment work for the Emirates fleet is completely being managed and executed in-house at the airline’s Engineering Centre. Over 250 project personnel currently working round the clock, 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.
The airline will be serving 42 cities with Premium Economy by February 2025 with the A350 entering its fleet in September 2024, in addition to the newly refurbished Boeing B777s also slated to begin serving more cities with the updated cabins later this summer.
Featured image by Emirates
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