An Emirates Airbus A380.Lukas Wunderlich/Shutterstock.com
- Emirates is giving its new Airbus A380s an interior upgrade with each cabin receiving an enhancement.
- Economy class will receive "ergonomically designed" seats with leather headrests and tray tables with wood finishes.
- Premium economy will also make its first debut at the airline with 56 recliner seats in an elegant cabin.
Emirates is one of the few airlines still flying the Airbus A380, a dying breed of aircraft that will soon stop being produced by Airbus. But the world's largest operator of the A380 isn't giving up on the world's largest passenger jet.
The Middle Eastern mega carrier on Tuesday unveiled a massive overhaul to its flagship aircraft that sees every cabin receiving enhancements and even the addition of a premium economy class, a first for 35-year-old Emirates. The first A380 complete with the upgrades has already arrived in Dubai with more to be delivered in the next two years.
Emirates is known for luxurious aircraft, as Insider's Rachel Hosie found while touring the airline's A380 at the 2019 Dubai Air Show, and spares no expense, especially in its premium cabins. In first class on the A380, for example, passengers not only sit in gold-accented privates suites but have access to the master bathroom with its own shower.
And while other airlines have moved to discard the A380 during the pandemic due to its high operating costs, Emirates still has nothing but praise for the aircraft. "It's palatial," CEO Sir Tim Clark told Business Insider's David Slotnick in a July interview. "And people absolutely love it. They still go out of their way to get on the 380."
Read more: Emirates may reconsider plane orders from Airbus and Boeing because of the pandemic, but that's especially bad news for the US plane maker
Take a look inside one of Emirates' new Airbus A380s.