Emirates says that in the first year itself, over 160,000 customers opted to fly in Premium Economy class since it was introduced in August 2022
Emirates Airlines says that the introduction of Premium Economy cabin on its aircraft has received an enthusiastic response from travellers. In a press statement, Emirates says that in the first year itself, over 160,000 customers opted to fly in Premium Economy class since it was introduced in August 2022.
The airline says it is looking to expand the Premium Economy product which is currently available on flights to 11 cities, with the list growing to 13 cities by the end of the year, as more retrofitted aircraft with refreshed cabins roll into scheduled service.
Emirates says that since it debuted its Premium Economy Class, customer response has been overwhelmingly positive with demand exceeding expectations and bookings growing month on month, demonstrating its appeal to a broad range of traveller segments. It adds that nearly half of customers flying in Emirates Premium Economy are solo travellers venturing off for holidays, while couples and families constitute the other half. More than 60 pc of customers who booked to fly in Premium Economy in the last year were Emirates Skywards members.
Emirates currently flies its A380s with the latest Premium Economy cabins to London Heathrow, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Singapore, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Houston, San Francisco and Dubai, with flights regularly registering full seat loads in Premium Economy. The airline says it plans to make Premium Economy available to customers flying to/from Mumbai and Bengaluru from October 29, and additional cities will be announced soon.
Emirates currently operates 20 aircraft fitted with Premium Economy, 14 of which were retrofitted in-house by the Emirates Engineering team in Dubai over the course of the last nine months.
The airline says that the Premium Economy roll-out is a core component of its multi-billion-dollar retrofit programme which will see the interior upgrade on 67 Emirates A380 cabins, as well as 53 Boeing 777 cabins. By the end of the programme, over 4,000 Premium Economy seats will be installed, along with over 700 First Class suites and 5,000 Business Class seats refurbished with the latest interiors.
