Some aircraft are built for elegance and the most space, whilst some are configured as people movers. Emirates has been working through its retrofit programme, and is now starting on its two-class Airbus A380s, converting them to three-class aircraft.
Emirates Premium Economy, on the Upper Deck of the A380 – Image, Emirates.
Originally, these aircraft had business and economy class installed onboard. The new configuration changes the aircraft to a three-class aircraft, featuring 76 Business Class seats, 56 Premium Economy Seats, and 437 Economy Class seats – 569 seats in total. The splits are:
- Business class – Increasing from 58 to 76 seats (+18 seats)
- Premium economy – 56 seats (Located on the upper deck)
- Economy Class – Drops from 557 to 437 seats (-120 seats)
Business Class will feature the usual 1-2-1 seats by Safran.
And yes, the bar is making an appearance.
Premium Economy Seats, as noted, are in a 2-3-2 formation, based on the Recaro PL3530.
Meanwhile, Economy Class has had a light refresh, retaining the Safran Z400 seat.
The first aircraft to go through this process is A6-EUX. After completion, it was taken back to the skies operating as EK 39/40 between Dubai and Birmingham.
This is the first of 15 two-class A380 aircraft in its fleet that Emirates will renovate as part of its commitment to offer customers a consistent experience in the sky. To support the change in configuration, the Emirates Engineering team had to undertake structural work to remove, upgrade and reposition galley modules, stowage areas, overhead bins, partitions and other cabin features, along with associated changes to the electrical and plumbing systems in the aircraft.
The refit programme has been managed entirely in-house by Emirates Engineering in Dubai. It has so far completed work on 95 Emirates aircraft, including 42 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s, representing more than one-third of Emirates’ current fleet of aircraft.
Emirates Engineering completed the retrofit of the first two-class A380 over a period of two months. With learnings from the first project integrated into future processes, retrofits of the other two-class A380 aircraft are expected to take around half the time, at 30 days. By the end of 2026, all 15 two-class A380 aircraft in the Emirates fleet will be retrofitted.
In Quotes
Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, said:
“The Emirates retrofit programme revolves around the central premise that we will offer our customers a truly elevated experience every time they choose to travel with us. To this end, our engineering team has been working continuously and at pace in close collaboration with an ecosystem of partners and suppliers to meticulously refresh and integrate the best-in-class products to each aircraft in the programme. Our retrofit programme has raised the bar at every step, in terms of complexity, scale and detailed craftsmanship. The reconfiguration of our two-class A380 into three-class layout that brings our popular Premium Economy seating onto the upper deck illustrates the extensive capabilities of our team.”
Even people movers need love
Emirates is continuing its fleet retrofit apace, as deliveries of certain new aircraft continue to be delayed. Thus, the fleet retrofit has been extended to 219 aircraft (up from the original 120 aircraft selected), with Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft being fitted with new cabins to extend their lives in operational service.
And even workhorses and people movers like the 615-seater A380 need love too, with the airline choosing to add a premium economy cabin and a larger business class at the expense of economy class seats.
Not to say that shifting 569 people in the sky isn’t easy at all.
On the high-density routes, aircraft like these help form operational backbones, supporting the movement of people from hub to spoke and back again. Ensuring a consistent passenger experience through the fleet is also important – and this retrofit brings these aircraft into the same elevated product that Emirates has currently deployed.
All Images, Emirates.
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