Summary

  • Emirates will deploy its refurbished 777s to Riyadh and Zurich in October.
  • Riyadh will be Emirates’ first Middle Eastern destination to be served with the airline’s Premium Economy cabins.
  • The airline plans on refurbishing another 17 aircraft by the end of 2024.

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines has announced the fourth and fifth destinations (Riyadh and Zurich) the airline will serve with its retrofitted Boeing 777s, featuring the airline’s highly popular Premium Economy cabins, 1-2-1 configured Business Class cabins, and the airline’s coveted “Game-Changer” First Class cabins. Apart from two new destinations, the airline will also be increasing the number of services to these destinations, which will see the retrofitted aircraft deployed.

Two new destinations

Last week, the airline unveiled the first of its retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which features upgraded cabins throughout. The first destination to see the four-class 777s on the Emirates network was Geneva on service EK83/EK84, which is one of the two daily services the airline operates between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Geneva International Airport (GVA).

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Geneva will be the first destination to see the retrofitted 777, followed by Tokyo Haneda, Brussels, and more.

The airline had previously announced the first three destinations to see the new cabins would be within Europe and Japan:

Service

Route

Launch Date

EK83/EK84

Dubai – Geneva

Launched on August 7th

EK183/EK184

Dubai – Brussels

On sale from September 11th

EK312/EK313

Dubai – Tokyo (Haneda)

On sale from September 1st

The two new destinations to see the retrofitted cabins are as follows:

Service

Route

Launch Date

Additional Info.

EK819/EK829

Dubai – Riyadh

October 1st

One of three daily services

EK85/EK86

Dubai – Zurich

October 1st

One of two daily services

The deployment of the retrofitted 777 to Riyadh will mark the first time Emirates has offered Premium Economy services within the Middle East. More destinations within the region will be offered Premium Economy once the Airbus A350-900s enter service with the airline to destinations such as Muscat, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

Doubling down on Geneva and Brussels

In addition to the two new destinations, the airline will deploy the new 777 cabins on two new services. Emirates aims to introduce the new cabins on its second service to Geneva and Brussels, thereby ensuring more passengers have an elevated experience within the airline’s European network.

Service

Route

Launch Date

Frequency

EK83/EK84

Dubai – Geneva

Launched on August 7th

Daily

EK89/EK90

On sale from September 22nd

EK183/EK184

Dubai – Brussels

On sale from September 11th

EK181/EK182

On sale from October 9th

6 days a week

By mid-October, the airline will see up to seven daily flights undertaken by retrofitted Boeing 777s and even more when considering the number of Airbus A380s the airline has recently retrofitted.

Emirates states that 25 of its aircraft have been retrofitted so far, with another 17 to undergo the process by the end of the year, which will see the airline serving 28 cities by the end of 2024 with its new cabins, including Premium Economy.

New cabins, new aircraft

While the Emirates’ massive multi-billion dollar retrofit program brings the existing fleet’s cabins up to date, the airline is also expecting to receive the first of its Airbus A350s by the end of this year.

While the A350 was originally meant to enter commercial service with Emirates in September, this has been pushed back to later this year due to reported supply-chain delays.

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The Dubai-based airline had planned to launch the Airbus A350 service in September 2024.

The airline has already announced the first nine routes on which the type will be deployed and has also announced some details regarding its cabin layouts.

Class

Capacity

Business

32

Premium-Economy

21

Economy

259

While the Premium Economy and Economy products will remain broadly the same, as seen on the airline’s 777s and A380s, it is possible the airline might unveil a new Business Class product to compensate for the aircraft not featuring a First Class.

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