Emirates achieves milestone with 100-aircraft retrofit in 44 months

Emirates has reached a landmark 100 aircraft refurbished under its retrofit programme, the largest known undertaken by any airline globally. Since work began in November 2022, 47 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s have been given a complete nose-to-tail refresh at the Emirates Engineering hangars in Dubai.

By the end of December 2026, around 20 additional aircraft will be upgraded, moving the airline significantly past the halfway point in its $5 billion investment aimed at delivering a consistently elevated experience to customers.

Over a period of 44 months, the Emirates Engineering team has deployed more than 400 engineers and technicians, investing a collective 4.4 million man hours to transform 100 aircraft and deliver a sophisticated upgrade across the cabin interiors of all the aircraft.

Every aircraft was also fitted out with a new Premium Economy Cabin during the retrofit. More than 3,800 new Premium Economy seats have been installed in total as part of the initiative, accelerating the rollout of this much sought-after product to more routes across Emirates’ network, with more opportunities for customers to experience the highly acclaimed cabins.

Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline, said, “Our commitment to deliver best-in-class products across every cabin is an ongoing endeavour, and completing full cabin retrofits for 100 wide-body aircraft in 44 months is a significant achievement. Backed by a $5 billion investment, it ensures our customers 'fly better,' with elevated luxury, comfort, and thoughtful detail throughout each cabin.”

"Executing a project of this magnitude and complexity entirely inhouse has also required unmatched planning, precision, craftsmanship and technical capabilities here in Dubai. Our team has completely rewritten the rulebook on retrofitting the two largest passenger aircraft in commercial aviation to make sure that every aircraft returns to the skies on schedule and in impeccable shape," he added.

Since the project began in November 2022, the Emirates Engineering team has retrofitted an average of 28 aircraft a year.

As part of every retrofit, engineers completely take apart the interiors of the aircraft, execute a thorough refresh across all cabins armed with over 4,000 parts for an A380 aircraft and more than 2,500 parts for a Boeing 777 aircraft and then put everything back together with precision.

WAM