Full cabin interior upgrade for 120 aircrafts

Emirates has begun its 2-year programme to work on full cabin interior upgrades for 120 aircraft, including installing Premium Economy seats.

Emirates has 'kickstarted' plans to upgrade the entire interiors of 120 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft – two of the largest commercial aircraft types in service today.

"No other airline has handled a retrofit of this magnitude in-house, and there’s no blueprint for such an undertaking," said an Emirates statement. "Therefore, Emirates Engineering teams have been planning and testing extensively, to establish and streamline processes, and identify and address any possible snags."

An aircraft that flew from Cairo to Dubai on Monday has been kept at a hangar at the Emirates Engineering Centre. A team of engineers will review, prep and start work on the aircraft there.

As the project starts today, engineers and technicians are ready to spend the next 16 days taking apart the interior cabin of the aircraft and putting it back together again in a pre-planned sequence.

In order to make room for the 56 Premium Economy seats, 88 Economy seats will be removed. Business and First class seats will be sent for refurbishing. Many features of the aircraft will be given an upgrade, including the Shower Spa that will feature new colour tones with a hand-stencilled motif of a Ghaf tree.

Side panels will be removed and sent to be laminated in Emirates’ latest colour tones Carpets and flooring will be replaced as well.

Every detail has been inspected to ensure it complies with the airline's health and safety standards. Aviation authorities will inspect the aircraft before it is cleared for flying.

Engineers will work on two aircraft simultaneously, meaning that all of the refitted planes will be ready by March 2025.