Emirates is planning some major changes to the onboard service it delivered in the skies. Let us dive in and see what’s being offered as the airline splashes US$2 Billion around.
Across the fleet – Cabin upgrades
Emirates is opening its chequebook and starting to refit its cabins, where cabins will be retrofitted with new or reupholstered seats, new panelling, flooring and other cabin features.
The refit will be conducted against all the cabins and will mark the mass introduction of Premium Economy cabin in the Emirates fleet.
After the retrofit, Emirates will have a total of 120 aircraft offering Premium Economy seats – the only airline in the region to offer this cabin class.
The Recaro PL3530, dressed for Emirates aboard the A380 – Image, Emirates.
The first aircraft is scheduled to roll into the Emirates Engineering Centre for retrofitting in November for work to be conducted, with, planning work and trials having commenced.
In First Class
New Menus
Emirates has engaged an award-winning team of chefs, a world-class catering team and a wide variety of suppliers to deliver fine dining in the sky.
New menus will be served on select Emirates routes in First Class, featuring dishes such as pan-fried salmon trout with moqueca sauce and creole rice, roasted duck breast with orange thyme jus, steamed broccolini and fondant potatoes
Vegan Choices
Vegans, or anyone interested in a plant-based meal, will enjoy handcrafted gourmet dishes such as pan-roasted king oyster mushrooms, flavoursome jackfruit biryani and sliced kohlrabi garnished with burnt orange.
Desserts are a decadent affair with choices of chocolate truffle cake with hazelnut, pistachio and gold leaf, or green grape tart adorned with candied rose petals, vanilla custard, and berry compote glistening with yuzu pearls.
Bubbles and Caviar
For those who love their inflight decadence, you can now savour unlimited portions of Persian caviar as part of the “dine on demand” service, with a pairing of Dom Perignon vintage champagne.
Popcorn, Anyone?
First Class customers can create a memorable movie moment on board by ordering cinema snacks as they enjoy the 5,000 channels on Emirates’ ice inflight entertainment system.
The cinema snack menu includes classics such as lobster rolls, juicy sliders, edamame, and salted popcorn, and can be ordered on demand.
In Business Class and Economy Class
New menus will also be introduced to Business and Economy on the 1st of September.
More details on the refreshed dining experience can be found here.
The airline is promising further announcements – hopefully, the rest of the cabins can get an uplift in passenger experience too.
In Quotes
Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline said:
“While others respond to industry pressures with cost cuts, Emirates is flying against the grain and investing to deliver ever better experiences to our customers. Through the pandemic we’ve continued to launch new services and initiatives to ensure our customers travel with the assurance and ease, including digital initiatives to improve customer experiences on the ground. Now we’re rolling out a series of intensive programmes to take Emirates’ signature inflight experiences to the next level.”
Finally moving on with Premium Economy
Whilst Emirates dressed up the release for its upgrades to its First Class product, the news that the mass roll-out of the Premium Economy Cabin will be very welcome news to passengers who want to splurge a bit for more space, but can’t justify the cost of a business class bed.
The mass rollout of 120 aircraft should mean that there will be high availability of the product across the entire network, allowing for a consistent offering, whilst it refits the fleet and refreshes the cabin.
We’ll have to see what other upgrades are due in the cabins and service, but the offering of Premium Economy on more aircraft should be a good start.
And for those who like unlimited Caviar, well, you know which airline to book.
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