Summary Emirates will deploy its refurbished 777s to Riyadh and Zurich in October. Riyadh will be Emirates' first Middle Eastern destination to be served with the airline's Premium Economy cabins. The airline plans on refurbishing another 17 aircraft by the end of 2024.
Dubai-based Emirates Airlines has announced the fourth and fifth destinations (Riyadh and Zurich) the airline will serve with its retrofitted Boeing 777s, featuring the airline's highly popular Premium Economy cabins, 1-2-1 configured Business Class cabins, and the airline's coveted "Game-Changer" First Class cabins. Apart from two new destinations, the airline will also be increasing the number of services to these destinations, which will see the retrofitted aircraft deployed. Two new destinations Last week, the airline unveiled the first of its retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which features upgraded cabins throughout.
The first destination to see the four-class 777s on the Emirates network was Geneva on service EK83/EK84, which is one of the two daily services the airline operates between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Geneva International Airport (GVA). Geneva will be the first destination to see the retrofitted 777, followed by Tokyo Haneda, Brussels, and more. The airline had previously announced the first three destinations to see the new cabins would be within Europe and Japan: Service Route Launch Date EK83/EK84 Dubai - Geneva Launched on August 7th EK183/EK184 Dubai - Brussels On sale from September 11th EK312/EK313 Dubai - Tokyo (Haneda) On sale from September 1st The two new destinations to see the retrofitted cabins are as follows: Service Route Launch Date Additional Info.
EK819/EK829 Dubai - Riyadh October 1st One of three daily services EK85/EK86 Dubai - Zurich October 1st One of two daily services The deployment of the retrofitted 777 to Riyadh will mark the first time Emirates has offered Premium Economy services within the Middle East. More destinations within the region will be offered Premium Economy once the Airbus A350-900s enter service with the airline to destinations such as Muscat, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Doubling down on Geneva and Brussels In addition to the two new destinations, the airline will deploy the new 777 cabins on two new services.
Emirates aims to introduce the new cabins on its second service to Geneva and Brussels, thereby ensuring more passengers have an elevated experience within the airline's European network. Service Route Launch Date Frequency EK83/EK84 Dubai - Geneva Launched on August 7th Daily EK89/EK90 On sale from September 22nd EK183/EK184 Dubai - Brussels On sale from September 11th EK181/EK182 On sale from October 9th 6 days a week By mid-October, the airline will see up to seven daily flights undertaken by retrofitted Boeing 777s and even more when considering the number of Airbus A380s the airline has recently retrofitted. Emirates states that 25 of its aircraft have been retrofitted so far, with another 17 to undergo the process by the end of the year, which will see the airline serving 28 cities by the end of 2024 with its new cabins, including Premium Economy.
New cabins, new aircraft While the Emirates' massive multi-billion dollar retrofit program brings the existing fleet's cabins up to date, the airline is also expecting to receive the first of its Airbus A350s by the end of this year. While the A350 was originally meant to enter commercial service with Emirates in September, this has been pushed back to later this year due to reported supply-chain delays. The Dubai-based airline had planned to launch the Airbus A350 service in September 2024.
The airline has already announced the first nine routes on which the type will be deployed and has also announced some details regarding its cabin layouts. Class Capacity Business 32 Premium-Economy 21 Economy 259 While the Premium Economy and Economy products will remain broadly the same, as seen on the airline's 777s and A380s, it is possible the airline might unveil a new Business Class product to compensate for the aircraft not featuring a First Class..
