Emirates has reached a landmark 100 aircraft refurbished under its retrofit programme, the largest known undertaken by any airline globally.
Since work began in November 2022, 47 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s have been given a complete nose-to-tail refresh at the Emirates Engineering hangars in Dubai.
By the end of December, around 20 additional aircraft will be upgraded, moving the airline significantly past the halfway point in its $US5 billion investment aimed at delivering a consistently elevated experience to customers.
Over a period of 44 months, the Emirates Engineering team has deployed more than 400 engineers and technicians, investing a collective 4.4 million man hours to transform 100 aircraft and deliver a sophisticated upgrade across the cabin interiors of all the aircraft.
Every aircraft was also fitted out with a new premium economy cabin during the retrofit.
More than 3,800 new premium economy seats (above) have been installed in total as part of the initiative, accelerating the rollout of this product to more routes across Emirates’ network.
“Our commitment to deliver best-in-class products across every cabin is an ongoing endeavour and completing full cabin retrofits for 100 wide-body aircraft in 44 months is a significant achievement,” said Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline.
“Backed by a $US5 billion investment, it ensures our customers ‘fly better,’ with elevated luxury, comfort, and thoughtful detail throughout each cabin.
“Our team has completely rewritten the rulebook on retrofitting the two largest passenger aircraft in commercial aviation to make sure that every aircraft returns to the skies on schedule and in impeccable shape.”
In line with its commitment to sustainability, thousands of kilograms of high-grade leather, fabrics and other materials removed from retrofitted aircraft are being upcycled into a variety of limited-edition collector pieces such as luggage items under the ‘Aircrafted by Emirates’ range.
Emirates has also distributed more than 4,000 backpacks made from repurposed economy class seat fabric to children across 11 countries.
