Emirates' first Airbus A380 arrives for cabin upgrade

All 67 A380s earmarked for the $2 billion retrofit programme will be back in service by May 2024

Visitors watch an Airbus A380, sporting the colors of air carrier Emirates, take off during the Dubai Air Show on November 22, 2005. AFP

Workers of Airbus celebrate in front of the Airbus A380 on July 28, 2008 in Hamburg, Germany. The world's largest passenger liner, built by the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, is delivered to the Emirates airline. Getty Images

A general view of the economy class on board of the Airbus A380 on July 28, 2008 in Hamburg, Germany. Getty Images

Emirates Airlines has launched a new daily A380 service from Dubai to Munich with its first flight at Munich Airport Franz Joseph Strauss on November 25, 2011 in Munich, Germany. Getty Images

Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum holds a model of the Airbus Industrie's new A3XX superjumbo jet at the Farnborough Air Show, July 24, 2000. Emirates airline is buying 10 of the jets from Airbus Industrie in a deal worth more than $1.5 billion. PA Images via Reuters

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and Thomas Enders, CEO of Airbus, pose for photographers after announcing that Emirates is to purchase more Airbus A380 aircraft at the ILA Berlin Air Show on June 8, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. Emirates will buy an additional 32 A380 aircraft, bringing its total A380 fleet to 90 aircraft. Getty Images

Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid takes a tour of the Emirates A380 airliner during the opening ceremony of the Dubai Airshow on November 17, 2013. AFP

Tom Enders, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and Tim Clark, President of Emirates, pose for media during a delivery ceremony of Emirates' 100th Airbus A380 at the German headquarters of aircraft company Airbus in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, November 3, 2017. Reuters

Emirates receives last A380 in November 2021. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates A380 Premium Economy. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates A380 Premium Economy. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates A380 Economy Refreshed. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates A380 Business Class Refreshed. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates A380 Shower Spa First Class. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates airline has started its two-year retrofit programme, with the first of its A380 superjumbo aircraft arriving for a full cabin interior upgrade and installation of premium economy seats.

The Dubai airline is carrying out a $2 billion upgrade of the interior cabins of 120 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.

“After completing flight EK928 from Cairo to Dubai on Monday, A6-EVM was steered to Hanger E at the Emirates Engineering Centre where a team of specialised engineers began prepping the aircraft for its makeover,” Emirates said on Tuesday.

The airline has hired 190 extra staff to work on the project, while it has also engaged with 62 key partners for the programme.

The entire cabin interior of the A380 will be taken apart during the next 16 days and rebuilt in a “carefully planned and tested sequence”, Emirates said.

Window seats in the economy section will be removed first to free up space for the cabin's side panels to be taken out. The panels will then be laminated in Emirates’ latest colour tones.

To make room for the 56 premium economy class seats, 88 economy seats at the front of the main deck will be removed.

“On the upper deck, business and first-class seats will be dismantled and loaded on to a modified catering truck to lower them to the ground, where other vehicles will shuttle them to bespoke workshops,” Emirates said.

“Business class seats will be repainted and reupholstered with new leather at Emirates Engineering, while first-class seats will be sent to a specialist at Dubai World Central for refurbishing.”

All carpets and floorings will be replaced before the new seats are put back in.

The aircraft will be inspected and certified by aviation authorities before it re-enters service.

The second aircraft scheduled for a makeover, A6-EUW, will roll into Emirates Engineering Centre on December 1.

As the project progresses, engineers will work simultaneously on two aircraft. This means that every eight days, one aircraft will be grounded and towed to Emirates Engineering for retrofitting.

All 67 A380s earmarked for the retrofit programme will be back in service by May 23, 2024, according to Emirates.

It will then begin work on 53 of its Boeing 777s. By March 2025, all 120 retrofitted aircraft will be back in service.

Premium economy is currently available on A380 routes to London, Paris and Sydney.

The airline has announced plans to introduce the premium economy service on its routes to New York, San Francisco, Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore by the end of March 2023.

Emirates expects to return to 100 per cent of operations and network capacity in 2023 as demand for travel and tourism recovers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

It carried more than 10 million passengers on about 35,000 flights to 130 destinations during the summer.