Emirates has revealed details of an ambitious, multi-billion dollar plan to upgrade the entire interior cabins of 120 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.
The target is to completely retrofit four Emirates aircraft from start to finish every month, continuously for over two years. Once the 67 earmarked A380s are refreshed and back in service, 53 777s will undergo their facelift.
As part of the project, Emirates is adding a new Premium Economy class, with the installation of nearly 4,000 brand new seats. As well, 728 First Class suites will be refurbished and over 5,000 Business Class seats upgraded to a new style and design. Carpets and stairs will be upgraded, and cabin interior panels refreshed.
The massive project is being managed in-house by the Emirates engineering team. It officially launches in November, and is scheduled to be completed in April 2025.
"No other airline has handled a retrofit of this magnitude in-house, and there's no blueprint for such an undertaking," Emirates said. "Therefore Emirates engineering teams have been planning and testing extensively, to establish and streamline processes, and identify and address any possible snags."
The goal was to demonstrate that engineers could complete the installation of Emirates' new Premium Economy Class and retrofit the remaining three cabins in just 16 days. Trials began on an A380 in July, where workers literally took each cabin apart piece-by-piece and logged every step.
Emirates' says its new Premium Economy cabin class "offers luxurious seats, more legroom, and a service to rival many airlines' business offering." It is currently available to Emirates customers travelling on popular A380 routes to London, Paris and Sydney.
More customers will be able to experience the Premium Economy cabins starting from year end, as the retrofit program gets into gear.
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