Middle Eastern carrier Emirates is to expand a cabin refurbishment programme to cover a total of 110 Airbus A380s.
It had originally intended the refit to feature 67 A380s but the Dubai-based airline states that it will include another 43 of the type.
Emirates is also refitting 28 additional Boeing 777-300ERs, on top of the planned 53, taking the overall number of aircraft in the scheme to 191.
Twenty-two of the A380s have already undergone refurbishment and the first 777 will be refitted in July this year.
Emirates president Tim Clark says the expansion will allow introduction of “cutting-edge cabin products” on a greater proportion of its fleet.
“Addition of more aircraft fitted with our newest generation seats, updated cabin finishings, and a contemporary colour palette also marks a significant step in ensuring more customers can consistently experience our premium products across both aircraft types,” he adds.
Emirates will install new business-class seats – with a 1-2-1 configuration – and refurbish the first-class cabin on the 777s.
The carrier will also fit 24 premium-economy seats, by removing 50 economy seats, meaning the twinjets’ accommodation will total 332 seats across four classes.
Emirates says it expects the process for each 777 to take around two weeks.
It says the full fleet retrofit, across both aircraft types, involves adding over 8,100 premium-economy seats as well as nearly 1,900 first-class suites, over 11,000 business-class and nearly 22,000 economy-class seats.
