Emirates has been going a long way home around the delivery of its first A350-900 aircraft into its fleet. Finally, the plane arrived in Dubai yesterday and was presented to the world at a gathering of Emirates Airline guests and media today.

Emirates’ A350 inducted into the fleet.

Today, emirates inducted the A350-900 into the airline’s fleet. This is the first new aircraft type to join Emirates’ very simple fleet of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft. The first A380 was inducted into the fleet in 2008, and the last one in 2021, with Emirates becoming the largest customer of the A380 aircraft.

The new aircraft will have faster Wi-Fi, a quieter cabin, Mercedes S Class-inspired leather seats in Business class and a 4K high-resolution in-flight entertainment system. What comes as no surprise is that Emirates has a three-class configuration on board, with 32 lie-flat seats in Business Class, 21 in Premium Economy and 259 in Economy.

Inside: A refreshed Business Class with new trims

In what could be a disappointment to some, Emirates has retained the same 1-2-1 configuration and business class seats from Safran, which it has onboarded its A380 aircraft and is currently being retrofitted on the Boeing 777s. Yet again, Emirates has gone against the trend of adding doors to the seat and left it for an open format.

The Business Class seats, draped in leather inspired by the Mercedes S Class, have new improvisations on board, leaving the basic configuration as is. Of key consequence to note is the latest wireless charging, which it now sports on the cocktail table, not present on the A380 or the 777 variants of the same seat.

Another interesting feature to note is the in-seat mood lighting controls, which were slightly impossible to play with during the day with open windows.

It would be hard to miss the Ghaf Tree, which comes up on the front and the back walls of the cabinet.

The S-Lounge Seat goes into flatbed mode in no time.

And then, there is the complimentary snack display, created at the back of the cabin. I’m unsure if I’d want to be on the seats ahead ofwhere this counter has been made. Imagine a kid and a parent conversing about the fruit they want while you try to sleep. Umm!

Overall, though, this is a great cabin and I would love to try it out once it starts flying to India. I know people expected a new seat, and I was equally surprised to see the upgraded version of the existing seat. But it does the job just fine, is spacious, and works well. Of course, a five-minute assessment on board could be very different from spending 12 hours, but it did not look like something was out of place on these new seats.

Emirates has a reputation for managing your experience, end to end, and compared with many other airlines, the halo effect of flying Emirates has already set in.  The airline has many soft touches engrained through the end-to-end journey, which are enough to bring people back over and over to the airline. The airline knows it, and their frequent travellers know it.

The Premium Economy and Economy Cabins

The Business Class is where the refresh happened, while the premium economy remains the same as is. There is no reason for the airline to go over the premium economy product just yet, given it is comparatively new as it is.

The Emirates Economy Cabin remains as is, with its light-blue and oceanic hues. Emirates will soon introduce a new 6-way adjustable headrest to Economy Class on the A350, allowing customers to sleep with full neck support. Expected in early 2025, this new headrest is set to significantly improve customer experience in Economy Class and eliminate the need for neck pillows. The headrest you see on this seat is not the one that is going to come (and might also be replaced eventually).

There will also be a larger galley, which will allow the crew the space to work and the passengers on board to stretch out simultaneously.

The airline is currently inducting aircraft with 312 seats. These aircraft will sport 32 lie-flat Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats and 259 Economy Class seats. They can fly up to 12 hours and will not be fitted with a crew-rest bunk. The first ten aircraft delivered to Emirates will have the “regional” configuration.

The remaining 50 aircraft will be the “Ultra Long Range” version. These can fly anywhere around the globe, except for parts of Central and South America, as per Emirates. These A350s will feature 298 seats and be equipped with crew rest facilities. An additional row of Premium Economy will be on these aircraft, reducing Economy capacity to 238 seats only.

Speaking about the importance of these aircraft, Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, said,

These will accelerate the next phase of growth as they run off the Airbus line and into our fleet … it offers Emirates the capacity and range that allows us to consider new destinations previously not considered viable.

Emirates expects to take delivery of another A350-900 aircraft within 2024 and then another three by March 2025.

Faster Wi-Fi on board

Emirates A350 aircraft will be the first to feature a new-generation antenna that significantly improves in-flight connectivity. The aircraft will take advantage of ViaSat’s Global Xpress (GX) satellite network. Passengers on board will get faster Wi-Fi with uninterrupted connectivity, including over the North Pole for flights to the Americas.

At an investment of more than USD 2 million per aircraft, passengers will see an improved user portal with a faster sign-in for new users and a faster log-in for Skywards customers. Improved Wireless Access Points on board will mean more flyers can connect simultaneously with the potential to get up to 10 times the current total aircraft bandwidth.

In-flight entertainment goes 4K.

The Emirates A350 will introduce a next-generation version of ICE (Emirates’ IFE) with new features designed to improve the customer experience. Offering a “cinematic display”, the system includes the “best picture quality on any aircraft” with 4K and 4K HDR, ultra-responsive touchscreens for seamless navigation and a vast media selection – up to triple the current content capacity. In Business Class, 20″ screens have been fitted, while Premium Economy and Economy both have 13.3″ Screens.

New features also include “eye comfort mode” to reduce blue light exposure, the ability to skip credits and intros on videos, enhanced live TV, and simplified volume and brightness controls.

Not just that, for Skywards members, the system will “remember” what content you have already consumed. I wonder if that will stop me from watching “Top Gun” and “Pretty Woman” reruns over and over.

Emirates’ in-flight entertainment system, ICE, has been redesigned with a new user interface that improves the experience for visually impaired passengers. The system includes audio-cue navigation assistance, voice metadata feedback, a touch-and-swipe gesturing interface, and a large selection of audio-descriptive content.

An improved search function is complemented by iceMoments, a new way to explore content in a short-form video format.

Entry into service in January 2025

As with any new aircraft, Emirates must train its crew on the plane now before it puts them into service, which it will undertake during the rest of the year. Emirates has announced that the aircraft’s first commercial flight will be operated to Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, bringing up the flight by a couple of weeks to start January 3, 2025, instead of the earlier January 15 date.

The A350 will serve nine destinations in the Middle East, Gulf, West Asia, and Europe. It will soon introduce flights to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kuwait, Bahrain, Colombo, Lyon, Muscat, and Bologne. The airline intends to announce destinations that might involve up to 15 hours of flying in the coming year, the press statement said.

Bottomline

After quite some delays, Emirates has inducted the first A350 aircraft in its fleet. The airline will have another 64 join the fleet. The split-up of the plane deliveries is supposed to be 15 without crew rest areas and 50 with crew rest areas (and slightly lower economy seating capacity). Overall, the airline intends to operate the plane to many regional centres and far off. Emirates states that the aircraft will be able to bring passengers to most parts of the world, excluding parts of Central and South America. The first flight of the new aircraft is slotted for January 3, 2025, to Edinburgh.

What do you think of the new Emirates A350 aircraft and the onboard product?

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