Today marks a significant milestone for Emirates as the first retrofitted Boeing 777, featuring the airline’s latest cabin interiors, takes off to Geneva. The aircraft, flight EK 83, has undergone a comprehensive 37-day revamp, entering service ahead of its officially announced deployment schedule.
A New Premium Economy Experience
The Emirates Boeing 777 entered refurbishment in early July with a major reconfiguration to introduce a new Premium Economy cabin. This cabin features 24 seats arranged in three rows with a 2-4-2 configuration. The cream leather seats, complemented by wood panel finishings, offer enhanced comfort with a 38-inch pitch, 19.5-inch width, and an 8-inch recline, providing ample space for relaxation. Additional amenities include 6-way adjustable headrests for maximum comfort.
Enhanced Business Class
The new Business Class cabin exudes warmth and sophistication, echoing the light and airy design elements of Emirates’ iconic A380 experience. The cabin features 38 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, each converting to a spacious flatbed that reclines up to 78.6 inches. The seats are equipped with padded headrests, personal mini-bars, dining tables, multiple charging outlets, and a 23-inch HD screen, one of the largest in the skies, for enjoying Emirates’ award-winning ice entertainment system. The Business Class cabin also includes a small bar for mid-flight snacks and refreshments.
Upgraded Economy Class
The refurbished Economy Class cabin offers 256 seats in a soothing color palette of soft greys and blues. The ergonomically designed seats include full leather headrests with flexible side panels that can be adjusted vertically for optimum support. Emirates’ signature ghaf tree motif features prominently throughout the interiors.
Comprehensive Refurbishment Program
Emirates is set to refurbish another 80 Boeing 777 aircraft as part of a US$3 billion investment to deliver top-tier in-flight experiences. The newly retrofitted Boeing 777s will soon be deployed to Tokyo Haneda and Brussels, with more destinations to be announced.
The refurbishment work was meticulously conceptualized, designed, and executed in-house by a dedicated team of 175 engineers and technicians at Emirates Engineering in Dubai, ensuring the highest quality and safety standards. The project’s scale and impact on the local aviation ecosystem involved over 10 major partners and hundreds of skilled workers, operating round the clock in a precise sequence of tasks from interior removal to reinstallation and testing.
To complete the first Boeing 777 refurbishment, Emirates used:
- 330 square meters of carpets
- 340 laminate sheets
- 8,000 square feet of leather for First, Business, and Premium Economy Class seats
- 800 meters of fabric for Economy Class seats
- 300 liters of paint
The airline’s ambitious retrofit program includes a total of 191 Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft. Upon completion, the airline will have installed 8,104 next-generation Premium Economy seats, 1,894 refreshed First-Class suites, 11,182 upgraded Business Class seats, and 21,814 Economy Class seats.
Currently, Emirates operates its refurbished aircraft to destinations including New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, London Heathrow, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Sao Paulo, Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Geneva, and Dubai.
