Summary
- Emirates plans to revamp its Boeing 777 business class layout by eliminating the center seat.
- The brand new 1-2-1 configuration ensures that every passenger has direct aisle access, maximizing privacy and convenience.
- The airline’s premium economy retrofit program has been successful, with over 160,000 passengers upgrading to benefit from the enhanced cabin experience.
Emirates plans to revamp its Boeing 777 business class seating layout by eliminating the center seat. This adjustment within the business class aligns with the continuing premium economy retrofit program. The news comes straight from the airline’s chief industrial officer, Adnan Kazim, who sat down for an interview with Sam Chui.
A shift from 2-3-2 to a 1-2-1 layout
Premium economy is one component of a multi-billion total cabin refresh program at Emirates, which began two years ago. The airline’s chief industrial officer has confirmed that Emirates will begin retrofitting 53 777-300ERs in the summertime of 2024.
Photo: Fasttailwind | Shutterstock
Along with introducing a premium economy product, the airline goals to reinforce its Boeing 777 business class experience by adding extra space. This involves transitioning from the present 2-3-2 layout to a more expansive 1-2-1 configuration. In consequence, all 53 of the retrofitted 777-300ERs will boast a business class without the center seat. Talking in regards to the 777 business class readjustments, Kazim said:
“The prevailing 2-3-2 business class on B777 will go away, and you will see a brand new product that will likely be launched, which is able to bring us the alignment to the product that we now have with the upcoming 777-9X, with the A350 that’s coming in.”
Currently, the Dubai-based airline has a complete of 144 777s, based on Planespotters.net. Amongst these, there are 123 777-300ERs, 10 777-200LRs, and 10 777 freighters.
A business class configuration of 1-2-1 is widely favored within the airline industry and amongst passengers. This layout ensures that every passenger has direct aisle access, maximizing each privacy and convenience. Travelers can move freely without disturbing fellow passengers on this thoughtfully designed arrangement.
The growing popularity of Emirates’ premium economy
The airline’s premium economy retrofit program also includes the Airbus A380 quadjet. Emirates goals to retrofit 67 out of its total fleet of 119 A380s. Emirates has already retrofitted 20 A380s, with the brand new product garnering positive results. Since its introduction, over 160,000 passengers have opted to upgrade from economy class to benefit from the enhanced cabin experience.
Photo: Emirates
Amongst these 20 retrofitted aircraft, only six were initially delivered with these cabins directly from Airbus. The airline’s refurbished A380s are able to accommodating a complete of 56 passengers in its premium economy cabin, based on ch-aviation. The little premium economy oasis is situated on the front of Emirates’ A380 lower deck.
Your entire cabin upgrade project is scheduled to wrap up by the tip of 2025. By then, Emirates will install almost 4,000 recent premium economy seats, refurbish 728 first-class suites, and upgrade over 5,000 business class seats to a brand new style and design.
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