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IFE

REFRESHED

RETROFIT

Emirates is
accelerating the

cabin refurbishment

of its A380 fleet

 Atul Chandra

he Airbus A380 is enjoying a renaissance in service that few of the main deck were removed. The First
expected when the largest commercial jet in the world was and Business Class seats on the upper deck
T all but written off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Surging sport Emirates airline’s latest cream-coloured
passenger demand since 2022 has ensured the resurgence of leather upholstery and lighter-toned wood
the A380 in commercial service, 15 years after its first commer- finishing. Emirates’ signature ghaf tree motif
cial flight. Emirates, which is the largest customer for the A380 also features prominently throughout the
worldwide, has been accelerating the deployment of its flagship interiors, including hand-stencilled panels in
to meet growing demand for air travel. Currently, its A380s are the First Class Shower Spa.
deployed to 43 destinations including Dubai and the carrier has
plans to expand to several other cities in the coming months. ‘Customers will notice the difference the
moment they step onboard – the spacious
Emirates is now in the midst of a massive revamp of the interior A380 will look and feel even more impressive
cabins on these aircraft along with its Boeing 777s. Over the and comfortable. With our latest interiors and
course of the US$2 billion upgrade, Emirates will completely products, this newly refurbished aircraft ele-
refurbish the cabin interiors of a total of 120 A380 and B777 air- vates our inflight experience in all classes of
craft. Over the course of the cabin retrofit, 728 First Class suites travel, and enables us to offer more Premium
will be refurbished, over 5,000 Business Class seats upgraded Economy seats to meet customer demand,’
to a new style and design and nearly 4,000 brand new Premium said Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airlines.
Economy seats will be installed. The cabin refurbishment of 67 The airline has announced plans to introduce
A380s and 53 B777s is expected to be completed by 2024 and Premium Economy service on its routes to
2025 respectively and is the largest ever undertaken by in-house New York JFK, San Francisco, Melbourne,
by Emirates. Auckland and Singapore, by end March 2023.

The cabin refresh work commenced in November 2022, when the Emirates had originally announced that it
first A380 (A6-EVM) entered Hangar E, at Emirates’ Engineering would retrofit the cabins on 105 of its modern
Centre to receive a full cabin interior upgrade along with instal- wide-body aircraft at the 2021 Dubai Airshow.
lation of the airline’s latest Premium Economy seats. The second At the time it had planned to completely
aircraft scheduled for a makeover, A6-EUW, rolled into Emirates refurbish the cabins on 52 of its A380s and
Engineering Centre on 1 December. With its refurbishment 53 Boeing 777s fitted with a new Premium
completed in record time, A6-EVM began operations on the Economy cabin class.
Dubai-London service in January and A6-EUW is also now in
service. Emirates is the biggest A380 operator in the world with Optimum Support
a fleet 120 aircraft, which have flown more than 100 million pas-
sengers to over 60 destinations around the globe on this aircraft. Emirates has been supported by Airbus
Services on this major A380 cabin upgrade
with Airbus sharing its expertise in manag-
Cabin Refresh ing refurbishment programmes. According
Emirates’ fully refreshed A380s feature 56 Premium Economy to the airframer, it deployed teams of engi-
class seats on the main deck, and new colour palettes evident neers and technicians who worked round the
in the carpeting and wall panels. To make room for the 56 clock, to take apart the entire interior of the
Premium Economy class seats, 88 Economy seats at the front A380 and then refitting the parts again in a

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