By end of 2025, airline will serve over 70 cities with aircraft sporting latest interiors on Boeing 777s, A380s and A350s, representing almost 50% of its network
· In total, Emirates will offer over 2 million Premium Economy seats per year by end of 2025
· Airline’s retrofit programme represents largest in aviation history, with ramped up investment of US $5 billion and 219 aircraft slated for refresh
Dubai, UAE, 28 April 2025: Emirates will introduce a slew of Boeing 777 and Airbus A380s with upgraded cabins to 8 more cities on its network in the coming months. The airline will roll out its refreshed A380s to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Nice and Perth and its upgraded Boeing 777s to Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket and Frankfurt, as well as another refitted Boeing 777 service to Dublin*.
These latest planned deployments will offer customers more opportunities to enjoy a seamless, consistent and industry-leading Emirates experience whether they are travelling to or through Dubai, as the total number of cities served by refurbished Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s and newly delivered A350s reaches over 70 cities.
The airline’s retrofit programme continues to advance at a remarkable pace with Emirates Engineering Centre teams working round the clock to complete full nose-to-tail makeovers at an average rate of one wide-body aircraft every three weeks.
The airline will also receive its first long-range A350 later this year, which is set to make its debut in Australia with the introduction of flights to Adelaide from 1 December**.
Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer said: “The latest rollout of refurbished Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s and new A350s offer more opportunities for customers in over 70 dynamic cities and growing economies to enjoy our latest generation premium onboard experience combined with our award-winning service. The redoubling of our refurbishment programme efforts means that by the end of this year, Emirates will have established itself as one of the preeminent industry leaders offering Premium Economy seats. In the next two years, we will definitively cement our position as the industry leader in Premium Economy deployment. The scaling up of our Premium Economy offering strengthens our competitive proposition to travellers and makes it our strategic differentiator by offering them more choice as they increasingly seek premium travel experiences.
Deploying our first long-range A350 to Adelaide is an exciting development and underscores the importance of Australia as a major eastbound anchor in our network. It also represents our commitment to delivering the best possible long-haul experience on our latest generation aircraft.”
Emirates plans to deploy its latest Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s across these key destinations:
- Emirates flights EK372/373 to Bangkok will operate with the refreshed A380 from 1 July* 2025.
- Hong Kong will receive its first A380 fitted with four classes and the latest interiors on EK380/381 from 1 October*. The operation will complement the airline’s newly introduced retrofitted Boeing 777 operations set to start this summer.
- Emirates will debut its latest Premium Economy cabins to Nice on EK077/078 from 15 October. *
- Reaffirming Australia’s strategic importance in Emirates’ network, Perth will become the fourth Australian city to receive the latest-generation A380 starting 26 October* on EK 420/421.
- Customers travelling to and from Madrid will enjoy an enhanced Boeing 777 onboard experience with refreshed interiors on EK 143/144 from 15 October*. Madrid becomes the first destination in Spain to operate with the airline’s next-gen interiors.
- Kuala Lumpur flights EK346/347 will operate with a retrofitted Boeing 777 from 15 October. *
- Emirates will introduce its latest generation cabins to Germany for the first time with Frankfurt set to receive the Emirates Boeing 777 on its daily EK043/044 from 15 December. *
- Emirates’ upgraded Boeing 777 will operate to Phuket starting 1 December on the daily EK EK396/397. *
Additionally, Dublin will receive its second refitted Boeing 777 on 1 December.*
Adelaide will be the first city in the airline’s network to receive the long-range Airbus A350 with the introduction of flights on EK440/441 beginning 1 December**. The Emirates Airbus A350-900ULR can stay in the air for over 15 hours non-stop, with a range exceeding 14,000 km.
By the end of 2025, Emirates expects to receive 5 A350 aircraft earmarked to serve long-haul missions, featuring 32 lie-flat Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 28 seats in Premium Economy, and 238 generously pitched Economy Class seats.
Leading in Premium Economy
Since the start of the refurbishment programme in November 2022, Emirates has upgraded the interiors of 51 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft, now flying to 38 destinations. The airline’s plans include entire cabin refurbishments of 219 aircraft, representing 110 Airbus A380s and 109 Boeing 777s.
As the programme accelerates, Emirates is poised to rise in the rankings as one of the top airlines in Premium Economy capacity based on international seats offered, with over 2 million seats on offer per year by the end of 2025 on aircraft flying to over 70 cities, and a doubling of that capacity to 4 million seats per year by the end of 2026. By the end this year, close to 40% of the airline’s fleet will offer its latest interiors, including Premium Economy and a refreshed Business Class cabin.
More significantly, as the airline adds Premium Economy capacity, it has also maintained high seat loads averaging over 80% on its long-haul routes, speaking to the strength of its world-class product and demonstrating robust demand for an elevated onboard experience.
Today, the spread of Emirates’ Premium Economy capacity is geographically diverse, and the airline is focused on introducing more of its latest products and harmonising its interiors on offer across more cities so customers flying to and through Dubai enjoy a more seamless experience.
Emirates’ retrofit programme picks up momentum
The airline’s unprecedented US $5 billion retrofit investment stands unrivalled in the aviation industry in scale and size, uniquely focused on enhancing the onboard experience for customers. Meticulously orchestrated under the expertise of the Emirates Engineering team, over 270 engineers and technicians work round the clock, devoting over 1,800 manhours each day to bring each aircraft to impeccable completion.
On average, it takes 22 days to retrofit an A380, and 18 days for a Boeing 777. Every month, two aircraft roll out of the programme, ready for deployment to a new city, or to be layered on an existing operation sporting refurbished aircraft.
Once this monumental project is complete, Emirates will have installed 8,512 next-generation Premium Economy seats, 2,034 refreshed First-Class suites, 12,720 upgraded Business Class seats with entirely new configurations, and thoughtfully overhauled 68,364 Economy Class seats.
Delivering on the airline’s commitment to provide a best-in-class suite of products for its new cabins will require the installation of 218,000 metres of fabric for the latest Economy Class seats; while Premium Economy, Business Class and First Class will get a fresh reupholstering that entails the use of 130,000 square metres of buttery leather. Over 132,000 square metres of fresh, durable carpets will be rolled out across cabins and 14,000 square metres of laminate sheets will be applied to cabin walls.
*Aircraft deployment may be advanced if released earlier from refurbishment
**If aircraft are delivered ahead of schedule, Emirates will bring forward the deployment of its Airbus A350