- Emirates is giving its new Airbus A380s an interior upgrade, with each cabin getting an upgrade.
- The economy class will receive “ergonomically designed” seats with leather headrests and wooden-finished trays.
- The premium economy class will also make its first debut on the airline with 56 reclining seats in an elegant cabin.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Emirates is one of the few airlines that still fly with the Airbus A380, a kind of endangered aircraft that will soon cease to be produced by Airbus. But the world’s largest A380 operator is not giving up on the world’s largest passenger jet.
The Middle East mega-carrier on Tuesday unveiled a major overhaul of its flagship aircraft, which sees all cabins improving and even adding a premium economy class, an innovation for the 35-year-old Emirates. The first A380 complete with the updates has already arrived in Dubai with more to be delivered in the next two years.
Emirates is known for luxury aircraft, as Rachel Hosie of Insider discovered when visiting the airline’s A380 at the Dubai Air Show 2019, and spares no expense, especially in its premium cabins. In the first class of the A380, for example, passengers not only sit in private suites with golden details, but also have access to the master bathroom with its own shower.
And while other airlines have decided to discard the A380 during the pandemic due to its high operating costs, Emirates still has only praise for the aircraft. “It’s palatial,” CEO Sir Tim Clark told David Slotnick of Business Insider in an interview in July. “And people love it. They are still struggling to get on 380.”
Read More: Emirates may reconsider aircraft orders from Airbus and Boeing because of the pandemic, but this is especially bad news for the US aircraft maker
Take a look inside one of Emirates’ new Airbus A380s.