Dubai: Over 160,000 passengers have traded up to fly in Emirates Premium Economy since it was introduced in August 2022, Dubai’s flagship carrier announced. Emirates, on Tuesday, celebrated the first year of full-service operations with the cabin class.
The airline is forecasting a solid demand momentum in the coming months, with flights planned to India’s Mumbai and Bengaluru in October, taking the total number of Premium Economy destinations to 13 cities from 11.
In an earlier interview with Gulf News, Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Adnan Kazim said the airline plans to launch the service in 20 cities by the end of March 2024.
Since launch, the airline has operated close to 4,500 flights with Premium Economy, travelling more than 36 million kilometres around the globe.
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Interestingly, over 192,000 meals and 126,000 pieces of chocolates were served to passengers on those flights. The airline also said it served 6,700 kilograms of mixed nuts and 8,650 litres of complimentary fresh lemon and mint juices in the Premium Economy class.
“Since Emirates debuted its Premium Economy Class, customer response has been overwhelmingly positive, with demand exceeding expectations and bookings growing month on month,” said the airline.
The carrier also revealed that nearly half the customers flying in Emirates Premium Economy are solo travellers, while couples and families constitute the other half.
Emirates currently flies its A380s with the latest Premium Economy cabins to London Heathrow, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Singapore, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Houston, San Francisco and Dubai, with flights regularly registering full seat loads in Premium Economy.
After the October launch to India, additional cities will be announced. Emirates said it currently operates 20 aircraft fitted with Premium Economy. About 14 of the A380s were retrofitted in-house by the Emirates Engineering team in Dubai over the last nine months.
The airline’s multi-billion-dollar retrofit programme will see interior upgrades on 67 Emirates A380 cabins and 53 Boeing 777 cabins. By the end of the programme, over 4,000 Premium Economy seats will be installed, along with over 700 First Class suites and 5,000 Business Class seats refurbished with the latest interiors.
