Emirates will fly its first Airbus A380 featuring a brand new Premium Economy seat on one of its most important and lucrative routes – Dubai (DXB) to London Heathrow (LHR) – starting on January 4. Unfortunately, the seat will only appear on one of five daily flights and even then only a select few passengers will be invited for a complimentary upgrade from their booked Economy seats to enjoy the new cabin.
The Dubai-based airline revealed its first-ever Premium Economy seat last week, choosing a popular but full-featured product from German manufacturer Recaro. Despite the fact the seat already flies on several other airlines, it has been given the full Emirates luxe treatment with leather cream coloured upholstery, wood-effect trimming and a large 13’3″ seat-back television screen.
At the time, Emirates’ president Sir Tim Clark explained that the cabin won’t actually be available to book for paying customers until new planes are either delivered with seats pre-installed or they’ve been retrofitted onto older planes.
Unfortunately, Sir Tim confirmed that the cabin might only feature on six new A380’s which will be delivered through to the end of 2022. The seat will then be installed on “some” Boeing 777X aircraft which won’t arrive until 2023 at the earliest and no decision has been made whether to retrofit the product into existing A380’s in the fleet.
Sir Tim also cautioned that it might take some weeks for the airline to announce where customers were likely to see its Premium Economy cabin but London Heathrow has proved to be one of Emirates’ most important and lucrative destinations – both before the pandemic and especially during the pandemic.
Each seat is 19.5 inches wide, with a recline of 8 inches and a pitch of up to 40 inches. The 56-seat cabin is located at the front of main deck and comes with two dedicated lavatories. Faux walnut also features on pull-out tray tables. The seat is upholstered in an anti-stain cream leather fabric and features a six-way adjustable headrest.
Emirates is now operating doubledeck A380’s four times per day to the British capital, while a Boeing 777-300 operates a final fifth daily flight. Despite a new lockdown across much of the UK, British tourists continue to flood into Dubai drawn by the lure of winter sun and the opportunity to enjoy activities that are banned at home.
The Premium Economy cabin will features on Emirates flight EK003 which departs Dubai and 2:30pm. The return EK004 service from London Heathrow departs at 8:20pm.
Although Emirates has revealed brand new cushions to complement the seats, the airline hasn’t revealed any further enhancements above that it offers Economy passengers. Most airlines normally offer Premium Economy passengers a slightly better meal in real china crockery, a wider drinks choice and upgraded blankets and pillows.
So, since only 1 of 5 flights will include the new upgraded cabin, and only a few of us will be ‘invited’ to upgrade to the new cabin – the basic consensus is don’t bother!… book another flight.
The message to stay at home doesn’t seem to be getting through to English tourists who think they are entitled to a sun holiday in Dubai in the middle of a pandemic. The U.K. is set to impose further restrictions to International travel so Emirates won’t be leaving Heathrow packed with English lowlife tourists. The N.H.S. is not there to facilitate Emirates passengers for Covid tests so they can fly to Dubai on holiday and it is a disgrace that Tim Clark is encouraging Emirates passengers to be using the public health service in this way!