Emirates reveals big changes will be made to extra 71 aircraft

Emirates has announced more of its planes are getting a makeover – adding something Aussies love.

Another 71 Emirates planes will be getting a makeover to expand the airline’s popular premium economy offering, taking the total number of aircraft undergoing an interior refresh to 191.

The Dubai-based airline announced on Tuesday it would be completely refurbishing another 43 A380s and 28 Boeing 777 aircraft. The original plan was for 67 A380s and 53 777s to undergo full refurbishment. So far, 22 A380 aircraft have been done.

Emirates president Sir Tim Clark said they had topped up their multi-billion investment in the project.

“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,” he said.

Emirates will give another 71 aircraft a makeover expanding its retrofit program to 191. Picture: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The first Boeing 777 will undergo its retrofit in July. Each Boeing 777 is expected to take about two weeks to be upgraded before entering service.

Emirates revealed it plans to refresh the first class cabin, upgrade to new business class seats in a 1-2-1 seating configuration, and add 24 of the latest premium economy seats. To make room, 50 economy seats will be removed.

Australian customers flying from Melbourne and Sydney to Dubai already have access to the premium economy seats on Emirates’ refurbished A380 aircraft.

For Sydney travellers, the cabin is available daily on flight EK412/EK413, as well as on EK414/EK415. For Melbourne travellers, it’s available on EK406/EK407, and EK408/EK409.

Speaking to news.com.au on a visit to Australia in January, Sir Tim said: “We really gilded the lily on that by on the main deck of the 380 putting 56 premium economy seats in, really dressed the cabin up.

“They’ve got three toilets to themselves, they’ve got their own galley. Every flight there’s a party down there because you’ve got places to walk around. We have additional cabin crew.

“It’s clearly very popular, particularly on the Aussie run.”

Emirates premium economy seats on the A380. Picture: Emirates

Sir Tim said they were removing the old products “as quickly as we can”.

“The 2-3-2 business class will go eventually, it will just be 1-2-1, which is quite painful to the bottom line because we take out chunks of business class seats, but nevertheless we’re going to standardise that,” he explained.

He said the aircraft were being retrofitted to “restore everything to a common platform of product”, which will became the new benchmark they will build on.

“Like everybody else, we are looking at what the future will be in the next 10-15 years, which will post date even these improvements. There’s a lot going on.”

Once the retrofit program is fully complete, Emirates will have installed 8104 premium economy seats, 1894 refreshed first class suites, 11,182 upgraded business class seats and 21,814 economy class seats.

Sir Tim Clark, president of Dubai-based airline Emirates. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Emirates is also expecting 10 new A350s to join the fleet by the end of March next year.

They are earmarked to serve short to medium haul cities from Dubai.

The new planes will fly to destinations in the Middle East from September, West Africa from October and Europe from November. Those destinations in Europe include Edinburgh in Scotland from November 4, Bologna in Italy from December 1, and Lyon in France also from December 1.

In January, Sir Tim said they were working to get “wrap around sound” on the new A350s.

The interiors are yet to be revealed publicly and Emirates is tight-lipped on the details, but news.com.au understands this could mean similar built-in headrest speakers to those just launched by Japan Airlines in a world-first.

Japan Airlines unveiled its cabin interiors for its new A350-1000 aircraft in October, featuring “the world’s first headphone-free stereo with built-in headrest speakers” in first class and business class.

Sir Tim told news.com.au while “there’s only so much you can do when you’re sitting in seats,” the improvements keep coming, including “wrap around sound”.

“We’re trying to get it into the 350s, We’ve just got some certification issues – but those will be in economy if we get them,” he said.