Emirates has reached a milestone in its ambitious multi-billion dollar retrofit programme with the successful reconfiguration of its first two-class A380 aircraft.

The newly refurbished aircraft (A6-EUX) has taken to the skies operating as EK 39/40 between Dubai and Birmingham, featuring sparkling new interiors with Emirates’ latest products in three cabin classes: 76 Business Class seats, 56 Premium Economy Seats, and 437 Economy Class seats.

This is the first of 15 two-class A380 aircraft in its fleet that Emirates will renovate as part of its commitment to offer customers a consistently superior experience in the sky.

Managed entirely in-house by Emirates Engineering in Dubai, the retrofit programme has so far completed work on 95 Emirates aircraft, including 42 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s, representing more than one-third of Emirates’ current fleet of aircraft.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, said: “The Emirates retrofit programme revolves around the central premise that we will offer our customers a truly elevated experience every time they choose to travel with us. To this end, our engineering team has been working continuously and at pace in close collaboration with an ecosystem of partners and suppliers to meticulously refresh and integrate the best-in-class products to each aircraft in the programme.

"Our retrofit programme has raised the bar at every step, in terms of complexity, scale and detailed craftsmanship. The reconfiguration of our two-class A380 into three-class layout that brings our popular Premium Economy seating onto the upper deck illustrates the extensive capabilities of our team.”

As part of the retrofit, Emirates’ award-winning Premium Economy cabin will be featured, for the first time, in the upper deck of the A380.

Featuring spacious leather seats with generous recline in a 2-3-2 configuration, customers can enjoy features including full leg and footrests, 6-way adjustable headrests, built-in charging ports, side cocktail tables, as well as elevated dining experiences and an unmatched entertainment system via a 13.3-inch personal screen.

During the retrofit, the entire cabin interior of A6-EUX was taken apart, refreshed and put back together with precision.

The Emirates Engineering team had to carry out extensive modifications to the upper deck of the A380 aircraft by removing 120 Economy Class seats to accommodate 56 Premium Economy and an additional 18 Business Class seats.

To support this change in configuration, the team had to undertake structural work to remove, upgrade and reposition galley modules, stowage areas, overhead bins, partitions and other cabin features, along with associated changes to the electrical and plumbing systems in the aircraft.

It took a team of around 50 engineers and technicians investing an approximate 35,000 man-hours and utilising more than 2,500 different types of parts.

Emirates Engineering completed the retrofit of the first two-class A380 over a period of two months, including comprehensive planning and testing.

Retrofits of the other two-class A380 aircraft are expected to take around half the time, at 30 days. By the end of 2026, all 15 two-class A380 aircraft in the Emirates fleet will be retrofitted.

The ambitious Emirates retrofit programme was first announced in 2021, emerging from a bold vision to ensure that Emirates’ signature standards of customer experience could be delivered consistently and seamlessly to customers across the world. 120 aircraft were initially slated to be refurbished under the first phase of the programme.

However, by May 2024, based on the success of the programme and the positive feedback received from customers, the programme scope was expanded to 191 aircraft and then further scaled up to 219 aircraft later in the year.

A dedicated team of around 270 staff ensure that on average two refreshed aircraft emerge every month from the Emirates Engineering hangars in Dubai.

In line with its commitment to minimise its environmental footprint, materials retrieved from the 219 Emirates A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft undergoing cabin retrofit are evaluated for repurposing as part of Emirates’ upcycling programme.

This has resulted in successful initiatives, including the “Aircrafted” range of limited-edition collector pieces, such as luggage items, and “Aircrafted for Kids” backpacks made from repurposed Economy Class seat fabric.- TradeArabia News Service