Emirates Airline remains resolutely focused on premium passengers, having taken a “diametrically opposite” view to many of its rivals as the industry emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, says the carrier’s president Sir Tim Clark.
Unveiling its initial Airbus A350-900 – which features the latest iterations of its business-class and premium-economy cabins – at an event at its Dubai base on 27 November, Clark said Emirates would continue to invest in its premium products.
“There is a view, not shared by us…that post-Covid [was] the end of first-class travel, the end of premium and everybody was going on to Teams and Zooms.
“We took the diametrically opposite view – [we said] we are going spend more on premium, more on this, more on that which is exactly what we did. And now of course the industry is moving towards more premium products, better cabins, better seats, et cetera.”
Emirates is taking its A350-900s in two versions: one for ‘regional’ routes which can accommodate 312 passengers and the other for long-haul sectors of up to 16h with 298 seats and the addition of crew-rest areas.
But the cabin-split across the two versions reflects the expectation of higher demand for premium seats on longer-haul routes.
While Emirates’ regional A350 has 32 business-class seats, 21 in premium-economy and 259 in economy, the longer-range version gains another seven premium-economy seats and loses 21 from the economy cabin.
Improvements across all three classes include new seats and the latest-generation of the carrier’s ICE in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.
Business-class seats are in a 1-2-1 layout, while those in premium-economy are in a 2-3-2 configuration, rather than 2-4-2 on the A380s, giving passengers “far more space”, says Clark.
“The aisles are wider the pitch is slightly greater and you still have these big screens and everything else. And enclosed cabin with two toilets next to you. So for premium economy it’s really good.”
Economy-class passengers will also benefit from large 13.7in IFE screens and “very comfortable and very spacious” seating – the latest iteration of a long-standing Emirates design.
“The seat design was ours – we specified and designed what the seat was. By doing that we were able to create, within a given pitch, more space. Magic,” he adds.
Although Clark says his favourite aircraft remains the A380, he argues that Airbus has made significant improvements on the newer type.
“They have crossed over from the A380, not missteps, but some of the things that they learned on the A380 are now in this airplane and have improved it altogether.
“If you talk to the pilots they say this is just a wonderful piece of kit and I think she’ll be a workhorse, she’ll be ubiquitous in our network, both now and in the future.”
Cabin crew will also gain an improved workspace, with Emirates redesigning the L1 and L2 galley areas. The galley in the former was “completely redesigned”, says Clark, “because what they offered us was compressed, tight, too small basically, so we ripped that out and started again.”
