Revealed: New Emirates Boeing 777 Business (Disappointing?)

Emirates has today unveiled its much anticipated new Boeing 777 business class. Well, you should definitely manage your expectations, as it should look familiar…

Emirates’ first reconfigured 777 enters service

Emirates is in the process of retrofitting 191 of its planes to update the passenger experience. While the airline started with reconfiguring Airbus A380s, the focus is now on reconfiguring many existing Boeing 777s, which feature rather outdated cabins.

More from OMAAT My Emirates Pass: Save Money In Dubai With Your Boarding Pass Read more

On the 777s, the most significant difference is that Emirates is introducing a new business class product, and is also introducing premium economy, both of which are long overdue.

Emirates’ first Boeing 777 to go “under the knife” has now been reconfigured, and it’s the plane with the registration code A6-EQH. While this plane took a bit over a month to reconfigure, it’s expected that going forward, the project will take around two weeks per jet.

Here are the first routes that are expected to get the new cabins:

• EK83/84 to & from Geneva (GVA) as of August 7, 2024
• EK312/313 to & from Tokyo (HND) as of September 1, 2024
• EK183/184 to & from Brussels (BRU) as of September 11, 2024

What’s interesting is that Emirates is reconfiguring its newest Boeing 777s first. So the airline is first flying reconfigured 777s on routes that are ordinarily served by the “Game Changer” 777, which also feature the new first class.

While that seems counterintuitive, I suspect the logic is that the airline also wants to first offer its new premium economy cabin on the most premium routes, and those are ones operated by the newest 777s.

Details of Emirates’ new 777 business class

Emirates has today revealed its new Boeing 777 business class, and frankly, it’s not much to get excited about. It’s essentially a slightly updated version of Emirates’ Airbus A380 business class:

• The reconfigured 777-300ERs have 38 business class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration, providing direct aisle access from every seat (this represents a reduction of four seats compared to the old configuration)
• Emirates’ new business class is produced by Safran
• The seats feature a fully flat bed, and seats have 44″ of pitch, are 20.7″ wide, and turn into a 78.6″ bed
• The seats have 23″ HD screens, in addition to a personal minibar, a large tray table, charging outlets, and ample stowage
• The 777 business class cabin features a small bar for customers to quickly grab an inflight snack or refreshment

Here’s how Emirates President Tim Clark describes the reconfigured 777s:

“Emirates continues to carry out our commitment to deliver an unmatchable onboard experience with the introduction of our latest Boeing 777 with new signature interiors, raising the industry benchmark when it comes to premium travel. Our latest Business Class cabin offers customers a sense of exclusivity and privacy, complemented by our best-in-class suite of onboard products. The addition of our popular Premium Economy cabin, rated one of the best in the industry, injects modern sophistication to the flying experience and is carefully designed for more comfort.  With more Boeing 777s and A380s refreshed to sport our latest generation onboard products, customers can consistently have the very best experiences in the sky across both aircraft types.”

I’m kind of underwhelmed by this…

While Emirates is generally considered to be one of the best airlines in the world, the company gets quite the halo effect from its Airbus A380s. Those planes have first class suites, business class seats with direct aisle access, shower suites, and a bar.

The carrier’s Boeing 777s are a totally different story, as most of these jets have angled flat business class seats that are in a 2-3-2 configuration. Getting an angled middle seat in 2024 on one of the world’s best airlines is quite disappointing.

So on the plus side, Emirates’ new 777 business class is a huge improvement over the old product. However, for a business class product being installed in 2024 on what’s regarded as one of the world’s best airlines, this is extremely disappointing.

Clark is one of the airline CEOs I respect most, but how can he say with a straight face that this new business class is “raising the industry benchmark when it comes to premium travel?”

Now, with Emirates introducing this product on 777s, I’m a little confused by what this means for the rest of the carrier’s fleet. At one point, Emirates executives were saying that the airline would be going for product consistency with new products going forward.

While Emirates’ fleet currently consists exclusively of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s, the airline is undergoing some major fleet changes in the coming years. In the next couple of years, Emirates is planning on taking delivery of Airbus A350s, Boeing 787s, and Boeing 777Xs.

So does that mean Emirates will also only install this product on its newly delivered jets? That would be even more disappointing…

Are Emirates 777s being reconfigured with new first class?

Here’s a mystery that I can’t wrap my head around. Seven years ago, Emirates introduced its new Boeing 777 first class, and currently it’s only available on nine aircraft. I understand the reason for this slow rollout is primarily due to the delay of the Boeing 777X, as that aircraft has been pushed back by five years.

However, up until recently, we’ve been told that Emirates won’t be reconfiguring its 777s with the new first class, which is extremely disappointing. I suppose Emirates’ logic is that the airline has no trouble selling its current first class, and doesn’t want to reduce seat capacity by 25%.

However, according to this webpage about Emirates’ reconfigured 777s:

Our First Class Suites on our new Boeing 777 will have the latest technology, game‑changing zero gravity seats and floor‑to‑ceiling privacy doors. The middle suites will also feature our virtual windows so everyone can enjoy exterior views above the clouds.

Based on that, it sounds like Emirates does plan on retrofitting its existing 777s with the new first class. You’ll only find all of those features with Emirates’ new product. However, I’ve asked an Emirates spokesperson multiple times now for clarification on this, and all they’ve confirmed is that the first 777s to be reconfigured are the ones that have the new first class.

Something isn’t right here. Either Emirates has a surprise in store, or there’s just some miscommunication between the product folks, and the tech and marketing folks. Regardless, we’ll probably have to wait several months before we find this out for sure, given that the newest 777s are being reconfigured first, and those already have the new first class.

Bottom line

Emirates has finally revealed its “new” business class for reconfigured Boeing 777s, and it looks mighty similar to the carrier’s Airbus A380 business class. It’s essentially the same product, with just a few tech and cosmetic upgrades.

The airline will be reconfiguring 81 of these jets, so that they can stay in the fleet until the mid-2030s. With these planes being reconfigured, we’re seeing the introduction of direct aisle access business class, plus premium economy.

On the plus side, Emirates’ new 777 business class is a huge improvement over the carrier’s old business class. At the same time, I can’t help but be disappointed that this is the product that the airline is installing on planes in 2024. This product is at that this point average at best.

What do you make of Emirates’ new Boeing 777 business class?