Emirates has unveiled the cabins of its first refurbished Boeing 777 aircraft just hours before its launch flight to Geneva. This is the first of 80 Boeing 777s that will receive a cabin refresh as part of the airline's multi-billion dollar, record-breaking cabin retrofit program. Last month, announced that the first of its 80 , earmarked to get new cabins, had begun undergoing the retrofit process.
While the airline's original plan was to have the aircraft return to service on August 11th, it appears that the aircraft's retrofitting has been completed ahead of schedule, and at the time of writing, the aircraft is set to return to commercial service ahead of schedule for its first flight this afternoon - EK83, operating from to Geneva International Airport (GVA). The first refurbished 777 is set to re-enter service on August 11th. While the retrofitted aircraft will feature the airline's existing fully enclosed Game Changer First Class suites, along with the refreshed Economy Class cabins that already exist on several Emirates' aircraft, the exciting news is that the airline will, for the first time, feature its popular Premium Economy cabins and a 1-2-1 configured business class in its 777s.
With the new cabins, passengers will be able to experience the level of luxury in Business and Premium Economy cabins, akin to that of the airline's iconic . Of the six daily Emirates A380 flights between Dubai and Heathrow, EK4 is one of the four services featuring new cabins and Premium Economy seats. The process of retrofitting the cabins on this first aircraft took 37 days / 18,000 manhours to complete, and the airline will be doing the same with 79 more Boeing 777s while also working on over 100 of its Airbus A380s as part of this $3 billion retrofit program.
While Geneva (one of two daily Emirates services) will be the first of the airline's destinations, in the coming weeks, the airline will also deploy refurbished Boeing 777s to Tokyo Haneda, and Brussels. Additionally, Emirates states that more destinations for the deployment of cabin-refreshed 777s will be announced soon. This is Emirates' first four-class Boeing 777 aircraft, and considering the major changes introduced, the capacity of this aircraft is significantly different from that of other 777s in the airline's fleet.
First Class Capacity Configuration 6 1-1-1 Emirates' revolutionary Game Changer First Class (introduced in 2017) is the world's first fully enclosed suite onboard commercial aircraft and is also the first to feature virtual windows in the middle cabins. Business Class Capacity Configuration 38 1-2-1 The new business class cabins introduced on the Boeing 777 are inspired by the existing product onboard the A380, with what appear to be a few minor design changes. The new 1-2-1 configured cabin layout will provide passengers with an elevated inflight experience.
While not quite the same as the A380 onboard bar, the newly refreshed 777s will feature a snack bar similar to that seen onboard Emirates' Boeing 777-200LRs. Premium Economy Capacity Configuration 24 2-4-2 The airline's Premium Economy, has been highly popular among passengers since its unveiling a few years ago, onboard the A380. While Emirates has so far rolled out the product on more of its A380s, this marks the debut of the cabin class onboard the 777, thus making the highly coveted product available for more of the airline's passengers.
Economy Capacity Configuration 256 3-4-3 The remaining space on the aircraft will be filled with the airline's Economy Class product, which has also been refurbished to include leather headrests and aesthetic color palettes, bringing the cabin to the same standard as the ones seen on the A380s. Overall, the new cabin layout will give the aircraft an overall capacity of 324 seats spread across four cabin classes. While the airline is busy rolling out new cabins on its existing fleet of aircraft, it is also expecting a brand-new aircraft type, the , to join its fleet in the coming months.
While the aircraft type will offer better operational flexibility and open up new routes for the airline, the carrier has also hinted the aircraft will feature a new onboard product. The carrier has already revealed the cabin layout, which features 259 Economy seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 32 "next generation" Business Class seats. The nine routes span destinations in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
While the details of this new Business Class product are kept well under wraps, we do know that this is a brand-new product the airline has built in collaboration with the French company - Safran. The airline awarded contracts worth over $1 billion during the 2023 Dubai Airshow, which will see Safran provide support for Emirates' incoming A350s and Boeing 777-X aircraft..
