Emirates' transformed Boeing 777s will soon land in 8 new destinations

Dubai: Dubai’s flagship carrier, Emirates, announced on Tuesday that it plans to deploy its refurbished Boeing 777s to eight more destinations on its route network. The planned deployments include Lisbon, Dublin, Hong Kong, Male, Kolkata, Colombo, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

By September, Emirates will serve 44 cities sporting its latest Boeing 777 and A380 cabin interiors on over 379 weekly departures.

The carrier has expanded its Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 fleet refurbishment programme to cover more than 220 aircraft. Its retrofit programme continues to progress at an impressive pace, with an aircraft receiving its nose-to-tail facelift and rolling out into service every three weeks.

From June 1, Emirates will introduce upgraded Boeing 777 cabins on flights to and from Lisbon and the Maldives. Additional services to the Maldives will feature the refreshed interiors from July 15.

Dublin will debut Emirates’ latest Business and Premium Economy cabins starting June 25. Hong Kong will receive retrofitted Boeing 777s from July 15. Kolkata and Colombo will welcome the upgraded cabins from August 10. The Colombo service will also benefit from the airline’s newly introduced A350 operations.

Johannesburg and Cape Town will receive Premium Economy and refreshed Business Class for the first time. Johannesburg flights will be upgraded from September 1, with more services following on September 25. Cape Town will see the new interiors from September 20.

London Stansted will gain a second daily service with refreshed Boeing 777 interiors starting June 1.

Raising inflight experience benchmark

According to airline President Sir Tim Clark, Emirates’ aircraft retrofit programme for 220 Boeing 777 and Airbus A380s has reached $5 billion. At Berlin ITB, Clark attributed the rising costs to aircraft delivery delays from Boeing and Airbus.

Emirates recently announced plans to launch daily non-stop flights between Dubai and Shenzhen from July 1. “We have got further access into China; we’ll be pushing more in there beyond the point we just added starting in July; it’s a great, very buoyant, and well-sought-after market. So, we will go there and continue to expand our operations,” Clark stated.

Additionally, the airline will introduce four weekly flights to Da Nang, Vietnam, from June 2 and three weekly flights to Siem Reap, Cambodia, from June 3, with both routes connecting via Bangkok.