Emirates Airlines Makes Bold Bet On Airbus A380 Premium Economy

18.08.2023 - 02:43 / forbes.com / Emirates Airlines

Not long ago, it looked like the reign of the Airbus A380 as Queen of the Skies was ending. But one airline, Emirates, is not only bringing back its A380s with a vengeance but investing up to $2 billion dollars in refreshing its planes and instituting a whole new class of Premium Economy service.

Before COVID, Emirates was considered the only airline to make full use of the A380. Dozens of the giant planes landed at capacious Dubai (DBX) airport like clockwork, like so many 500-passenger buses. There were six flights a day to London alone.

But Airbus ended manufacture of the great plane in 2021, with just 251 built . As COVID-19 quarantines closed international borders, most A380s were parked. At least 17 A380s have already been scrapped. Several airlines, including China Southern, Thai Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Air France, have either announced plans to stop flying the A380 or send them to scrap yards.

Coming out of the pandemic, airlines prefer smaller, fuel-efficient and easier to fill aircraft like the 200-seat Airbus A321XLR. But they didn’t ask passengers who would vote for a roomy A380 every day and twice on Sundays.

While most of Emirates A380 fleet was mothballed in 2020 due to COVID, demand has returned quickly. At a meeting at the Emirates Lounge at LAX, Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates' Divisional Vice President for the US and Canada, told me that Emirates demand is now at 97% of 2019, the last full year before COVID.

The airline is flying six A380 flights to London and five to Mumbai per day, for example. Mr. Ahmad said the A380 is key for Emirates at slot-constrained airports like London, essentially doing the work of two smaller planes.

So far Emirates has added its new Premium Economy cabin to more than 20 of its 116 A380 aircraft. The upgrade program, which will also impact Emirates fleet of 180 Boeing 777s, will be completed in 2025.

Emirates A380s are used on some of the longest routes in the world. Dubai to Auckland, for example, is a 14,200-kilometer, 16-hour flight. Dubai to Los Angeles, my home airport, is also 16 hours.

It makes sense for Emirates to add Premium Economy for such long-haul flights. Many passengers are unwilling to pay Business or First-Class fares yet will pay more to get more comfort than economy class can offer.

The new Premium Economy cabin on Emirates A380s has 56 seats. Each offers 40” seat pitch (regular economy is 32”) and is 19.5” wide.

The padded leather seats are a restful beige and come with both an attached headrest and a plush pillow. The reclining seats have comfortable footrests. A flight attendant assured us that reclining does not create rebellion from the passenger behind but does sometimes launch a chain-reaction mass recline.

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