Emirates Premium Economy marks first year of full service

Emirates is celebrating its first year of full-service operations with Premium Economy travel, as the airline continues its multi-billion-dollar retrofit programme.

The Dubai-based airline stated that such “strong demand momentum” is forecast for the coming months.

Emirates’s Premium Economy product is currently available on flights to 11 cities, with the list set to grow to 13 by the end of the year, with it saying that “more retrofitted aircraft with refreshed cabins” will roll into scheduled service. Since Premium Economy’s launch last August, the airline has operated close to 4,500 flights, traversing more than 36 million kilometres.

The Premium Economy roll-out is a core component of the airline’s multi-billion-dollar retrofit programme which will see the interior upgrade on 67 Emirates A380 cabins, as well as 53 Boeing 777 cabins. By the end of the programme, over 4,000 Premium Economy seats will be installed, along with over 700 First Class suites and 5,000 Business Class seats being refurbished with the latest interiors.

Emirates currently flies its A380s with the latest Premium Economy cabins to London Heathrow (UK), Sydney (Australia), Melbourne (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand), Christchurch (New Zealand), Singapore, Los Angeles (US), New York JFK (US), Houston (US), San Francisco (US), and Dubai (UAE). The airline stated that these flights are “regularly registering full seat loads in Premium Economy”.

The airline plans to make Premium Economy available to customers flying to and from Mumbai and Bengaluru from 29th October, and additional cities will be announced soon. It operates 20 aircraft fitted with the cabins, with Emirates adding that 14 of them were retrofitted in-house by the Emirates Engineering team in Dubai over the course of the last nine months.

In May, Emirates launched a global campaign with Academy Award winning actor and philanthropist Penelope Cruz, which also featured her enjoying the Premium Economy seats. Additionally, the airline also provided a glimpse of the cabin offering through guided tours of the new cabin class to media and influencers, trade partners, airport, tourism, and Government officials across cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Singapore, New York JFK, and San Francisco.