It is certainly the seat least coveted by all passengers: the middle of the row. While it is always present in economy or premium economy, forcing passengers to step over their neighbours, it is now rare for this to be the case in business class. Except on Emirateswhich, until now, has presented its business product in a 2-3-2 per row Boeing 777 configuration. The airline will therefore follow the example of its competitors. The number of seats in the new version of business class will be drastically reduced, as it will be presented in a 1-2-1 configuration. At the same time, the airline will be equipping its business class with new seats and introducing, where it has not yet been installed, its Premium Economy.
The carrier is therefore speeding up the transformation of its entire fleet, with the aim of offering a homogeneous product to all its passengers. Initially, Emirates had planned to refit 67 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing B777s. A total of 120 aircraft. The airline has decided to increase this figure to 191, i.e. 43 additional Airbus A380s and 28 Boeing 777s.
For Tim Clark, Chairman of Emirates Airlines, the multi-billion dollar investment in the " are an important step in ensuring that more customers can experience our premium products on both types of aircraft." . In July, the airline will present its first modernised Boeing 777 aircraft. The work planned includes the renovation of the first-class cabin and the introduction of new business-class seats in the updated 1-2-1 configuration.
Premium encroaches on economy class capacity
The other major new feature is the installation of 24 seats in the Premium Economywhich offer customers an even wider choice of options. However, the arrival of this new class will be at the expense of economy class, which will lose 50 seats. The new Emirates Boeing 777 will have a total of 332 seats divided into four classes. There will be eight First Class suites, 40 seats in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 260 seats in Economy Class. Each transformation immobilises an aircraft for a fortnight.
Emirates currently serves New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, London Heathrow, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Singapore, Bombay, Bangalore and Sao Paulo with its modernised A380s. Early June, Osaka will join these "happy few". By February 2025, the airline will be offering Premium Economy flights to 42 cities, including Paris.
The A350 will join the fleet in September this year. Fitted with the new cabins, the aircraft will be deployed between now and the end of December to Ahmedabad, Bahrain, Bologna, Bombay, Colombo, Edinburgh, Kuwait, Lyon and Muscat. Lyon will welcome the aircraft from 1er December. The newly refurbished Boeing 777 jets will also serve other cities with the new cabin from this summer.
The A380 remains the airline's most popular aircraft. While the Boeing 777 is proving to be the backbone of the Emirates fleet. The extension of the conversion programme ensures that Emirates will offer a largely unified product across its entire fleet. Until now, the heterogeneous product has been one of the main criticisms levelled at the Dubai-based airline by passengers.
