Emirates To Fly Retrofitted Boeing 777 To New Locations

Emirates has unveiled plans to boost the routes receiving the retrofitted Boeing 777s.

The latest announcement, made in the same month as the first aircraft re-entered service, follows a major multi-billion dollar retrofit programme.

Emirates states that the Boeing 777s will be deployed to two more cities, Zurich and Riyadh, from October 1, 2024, to provide the latest onboard experience.

Furthermore, refurbished 777s will be deployed to Geneva and Brussels as part of previous announcements, and these are the first two cities to get the reconfigured cabin.

Riyadh marks an important moment for Emirates as it deploys the new premium economy to the Middle East for the first time on EK819/820. Furthermore, Zurich will see the newly configured 777 on EK85/86.

The reconfiguration of aircraft has made way for a new era at the Dubai-based carrier, which focuses on giving customers many choices for their travels.

These now four-class Boeing 777s are configured with six or eight first-class suites and 38 business-class seats. Thanks to a four-abreast layout, each customer gets direct aisle access.

Meanwhile, 24 all-new premium economy class seats were first debuted on the Airbus A380 and have enjoyed positive feedback. Lastly, Emirates notes there are 256 economy class seats.

The new experience will heavily focus on offering customers greater privacy, more spacious seats, and a 180-degree fully reclining flat bed in upper classes.

Emirates has an extremely large widebody fleet with the Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 present; the market Emirates calls home is also incredibly competitive. Each airline in this region continuously looks to one-up each other.

Emirates knows that refurbishments such as these are now short- and long-term investments, helping to fend off continued competition.

Unfortunately, the rapid rate of this refurbishment has also come because Emirates was unable to get the new aircraft it had planned to take delivery of on time.

These major delivery delays have forced the company to significantly alter its short-term plans and place greater emphasis on its existing fleet despite the planes continuing to age.