Emirates has recently welcomed their first of the three Airbus A380’s which will be joining up with the carrier’s operations this month. One of them will be featuring the premium economy product. Carriers within the Gulf region have been famous for not being fans of having premium economy seats on their aircraft, instead, they prefer standard economy throughout as they move towards business class and first-class.

Information on the premium economy product was revealed thanks to a Bloomberg TV interview with Tim Clark, who is the Emirates president. In this interview, Clark said that the bigger picture of premium economy on their aircraft be considered more than ever in 2021 with the pandemic playing a really big part in their decision. Tim Clark said with reference to the decision of premium economy “we look forward to introducing our premium economy experience on which will make its debut on the a380 in the coming months and we will continue to invest in our world class a380 experience. The a380 will continue to be our flagship for the next decade and we will re-deploy it on more travel routes as travel demand increases”

We are yet to see what the premium a380 seat will officially look like. There are still some people speculating about the waiting for the official word. Tim Clark said that the a380s will remain within their fleet for the next decade and potentially the early 2030’s depending on how things will go for them.

Tim Clark also commented on the success of the a380 by saying “the a380 has been a success story for emirates and this is reflected by strong customer interest. Wherever we deployed the aircraft over the years, the a380 has helped us effectively serve customer demand slot constrained airports and also on trunk routes, supporting our long-haul operations”. Where he says that the a380 has helped effectively in serving customer demand at slot constrained airports, this is something the a380 has been very beneficial for over a long time. 

Since the a380 entered Emirates’ fleet some twelve years ago, the plane has pushed the airlines forward in more ways than we could imagine. The carrier has continued to push the boundary for cabin products and has also in turn bumped up the competitor’s overall product. We have seen on many occasions as emirates launch particular cabin products on a380 and then it moves forward to other planes such as the triple 7 series. With these upcoming deliveries; premium, economy, and more, it also signals the coming down of the a380 program of production and deliveries. It has come to a lot more sooner than imagined but it is something necessary for Airbus within this climate where it doesn’t function very well.