Emirates' fleet refurbishment

Melburnian1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Posts
25,255
EK rarely or never publicises that many of its planes have outdated seating in J.

In May 2024, Emirates announced that it would extend its retrofitting to another 191 aircraft including 28 B773s.

This means 81 of the 121 773s will be rejuvenated with 1-2-1 in J instead of the horrible J 2-3-2 layout.

The route with the cheapest business class fares to UK/Europe from Asia is from MNL, but I avoid EK (and QR) due to their use of these outmoded configuation B773s. I don't fancy climbing over another traveller if stuck in a middle seat, and nor do I like old-style business class when competitors such as WY offer a better configuration with direct aisle access from window seats.

What happens to the other 40 B773s (and the 10 B772s)? Will they eventually be scrapped?

Given EK claims each refurbishment for an A388 or a B773 takes two weeks, how many years will it be before the program is complete? How many aircraft are being concurrently worked on?
 
I think a chunk of the 773s are supposed to be replaced with 779s….which we know are delayed. So expect the old J to persist for a while.

An upgrade from the 773 to the 779 Y seat cant cant come soon enough - the A380 Y seat leaves it for dead.
 
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top