Emirates is currently undergoing an aggressive retrofit project for the interiors of its aircraft, to introduce a new product standard, and also to roll out premium economy. Along those lines, the airline is now reconfiguring the highest capacity aircraft that it flies. With this, we’ll no longer see any commercial aircraft with over 600 seats.
Continue reading: Emirates Reconfiguring 615-Seat Airbus A380 (World’s Highest Capacity Plane)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Funny!
It seems that Premium Economy passengers will have access to the First class sized restrooms. There significantly larger than for Business class passengers
I've flown this aircraft in the cosy little upper deck economy cabin and it was awesome. Shame that its going away!
A380 has a maximum certified capacity of 853 passengers in an all-economy configuration. And yet, Operation Solomon in 1991 has the official record... 1,088-1,122 on an El Al 747-200 (usually 400 seats, but all seats were removed). If you stripped an a380 down and packed it, probably could fit 2,500-3000 people... if most of them stayed on the lower level... (structural engineers, please correct me on floor load limits if you wish.)
Also, applying an Operation Solomon packing style to a C-5 yields a theoretical maximum capacity of roughly 1,500 to 1,800 people... but it will be hot and at lower altitudes... (military folks, correct me.)
Boo, hiss, once again the cattle in steerage class get shafted in favor of moneybags premium players.
That upstairs economy cabin - for which they have started to charge a higher assignment fee since I last flew on the whale - was very pleasant with fewer pax per row, its own galley and a better FA ratio than down in the basement.
We get those on the midday BHX rotations from DXB and I guess those who can afford it will welcome the PE availability.
I was booked in upstairs on the final return segment of a planned long haul trip which I had to cancel after Trump started yet another unnecessary US war. “It’ll last two weeks.” Sure it did. And only ‘advisers’ would ever go to Vietnam…..
C17 probably hit it's maximum during the evacuation of Afghanistan, with 820 odd people. I suspect it's a bit lower than your figures - probably around 1,200 - for the C5 - unless they manage to build a second deck utilising the extra height.
By the looks of it, the reconfigured plane has basically shuttled to and from BHX for the last week. I can't imagine that route will ever go back to a 2-class A380, especially while they're only running one plane a day (not that the removal of the 777 is a loss in either cabin).
BHX is an odd market. They have an Emirates branded lounge right next to the A380 gate that they use but it's clearly never been a premium market as most premium demand has gone either to MAN or LHR from the surrounding area
EK’s latest schedule shows the evening 777 rotation is coming back from 1 July. Showing only two classes - economy and business for both A380 and 777.