While those in the know have been familiar with the fact that the Dubai-based mega airline Emirates has been rolling out a new type of headrest for Economy Class seats over the last couple of months, the airline has only now officially made the news public.
A new headrest might not sound exactly exciting, but Emirates is describing the so-called ‘U-Dream’ headrests as a ‘game-changing’ innovation. Emirates considers these headrests so innovative that it plans to spend a lot of money rolling out U-Dream across most of its fleet.
Let’s be honest, multi-way adjustable headrests are nothing new, but the U-Dream headrest takes the level of adjustment to a whole new level, providing both head and neck support to prevent that all too familiar nodding doll feeling.
When you first look at the U-Dream, you could easily mistake it for a regular mult-way headrest. The sides fold inwards to provide head support, but the wings can also be folded downwards to cradle the neck.
In order to accommodate passengers of varying heights, the headrest can also be moved vertically up and down, and tilted at varying angles.
U-Dream was designed by the French aircraft seat manufacturer Safran, with which Emirates has partnered for many years. The airline is the first to install U-Dream on Safran’s Z400 Economy Class seats, with three of its brand new Airbus A350 aircraft, currently equipped with the new headrest.
Emirates doesn’t, however, plan to just equip new aircraft with the U-Dream. The headrests will be installed on the remainder of its A350 fleet by the end of this year, and, starting in 2027, U-Dream will also be rolled out on most of Emirates’ fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A380 superjumbos.
Specifically, U-Dream will be installed on any aircraft that has or will undergo a full cabin refurbishment. Some older aircraft that Emirates plans to phase out in the coming years won’t, however, have U-Dream installed.
U-Dream will also be installed on Boeing 777X aircraft as standard, although it remains to be seen when Emirates will actually start taking delivery of these aircraft.
“Emirates never rests on its laurels when it comes to customer experience, and we have found a way to significantly improve the comfort for Economy Class passengers, especially those travelling long-haul,” commented the airline’s long-serving president, Sir Tim Clark.
“The U-Dream changes the game if the person wants to sleep – by supporting the neck in full. No more neck pillows needed. It’s another innovation that shows our commitment to customers and cements our Economy Class as the best,” Clark added.
Last September, Clark said Emirates was working on a ‘game-changing’ Economy Class seat, admitting that Emirates and the industry as a whole have “got to do better than we’re doing at the moment.”
Clark ruled out making Economy Class any wider or even providing more legroom, but suggested that a taller seat could improve ergonomics and geometry.
There is, however, one big problem with making an Economy Class seat taller: currently, aviation regulations in Europe and the United States require cabin crew to be able to view the entire cabin. A taller seat could block their line of sight.
Clark joked that he had been “pulling the remains of my hair out” after facing stiff opposition from seat manufacturers over his ideas for taller Economy Class seats.
“If you put four or five inches on the height of the seats, what could you play with if you did that?” Clark mused before suggesting that cameras would be installed to comply with cabin viewing requirements.
Etihad Airways in neighboring Abu Dhabi once tried to reinvent the Economy Class, but it faced many of the issues that Emirates is now trying to overcome. In the end, the airline redesigned the headrest with a fixed wing that passengers could rest their heads on.
