One of the more anticipated Business Class product reveals of 2024 has been from Middle East giant Emirates, with a promise to rip out its dated 2-3-2 configuration on Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and finally join the realms of airlines offering direct aisle access in this cabin.

The retrofit precedes the introduction of three new aircraft types for the carrier over the next few years, the Airbus A350, the Boeing 787, and the Boeing 777-9.

Earlier this month, Emirates rolled out its first refitted Boeing 777-300ER, which entered service on 7th August 2024 to and from Geneva, and it’s safe to say the ‘new’ Business Class seats are rather underwhelming… and not all that new!

Emirates ‘new’ Boeing 777-300ER Business Class

The retrofitted Boeing 777-300ERs in the Emirates fleet now feature 38 seats in Business Class, in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration that’s immediately recognisable to many of the carrier’s regular passengers.

Despite a few variations, this is basically the same Business Class seat the carrier uses on its Airbus A380 aircraft.

The retrofitted Boeing 777 cabin has the newer champagne-coloured leather upholstery and does feature slightly larger privacy wings and a few other differences compared to the latest A380 Business Class, but essentially it’s the same.

While the latest version of this seat on the A380 first appeared in December 2020, the product itself by Safran Seats is basically 16 years old, first introduced on the carrier’s Airbus A380s in July 2008.

The personal minibar (with room-temperature drinks) is still a key feature, and while there have been some enhancements including a relocation of the power sockets, which find their way to a more sensible table height in this design, the seat is fundamentally the same as it has been for well over a decade.

The product is also used by Asiana in Business Class on the Korean carrier’s Airbus A350s and A380s, but it never proved widely popular in the industry, perhaps due to the narrowness of its 20.7-inch-wide seat.

Emirates President Tim Clark says these new Boeing 777-300ER seats are “raising the industry benchmark”, and that they offer “an unmatchable onboard experience”, but we beg to differ on both counts.

Here we see none of the “next-level technology” the airline was promising, like bluetooth audio and wireless charging – just an arguably outdated and rather narrow seat.

This product comes nowhere near rivals like Qatar’s closed-door Qsuite, itself getting an update in 2025, or even the latest products from the likes of Qantas, opting for the Safran Unity for its upcoming Airbus A350s.

What it will provide is a far better experience than the current Emirates 2-3-2 layout on these jets, in addition to offering product consistency across the Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A380 fleets.

A “bar”, but not as you know it

The refitted Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class also features “a small bar for customers to quickly grab mid-flight snacks and refreshments”.

If you’re envisioning anything like the bar on the carrier’s Airbus A380, pictured above, you’re going to be disappointed with this one.

Turns out it’s effectively just a small counter at the back of the forward cabin section, just behind seats 4D and 4G.

You certainly aren’t going to be ordering your favourite tipple from a bartender here and chatting with fellow travellers, like you can on the superjumbo.

You can’t even walk around the counter – most of it is unreachable and decorated with flowers – leaving just the edge section on either side against the aisle as a small space where a few basic items like sandwiches, cake and fruit are available to take back to your seat.

The proximity to sats 4D and 4G is also a concern – we personally wouldn’t want to be sitting in these seats trying to get some rest while people are helping themselves to snacks on a shelf directly behind our heads during the flight.

We were expecting this feature to at least take on the form of the social space Emirates has installed on its Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

Which aircraft and routes?

Emirates is starting off this refit campaign with some of its newest Boeing 777-300ERs, those with the “game changer” fully-enclosed suites in First Class.

A 6.9-year-old aircraft A6-EQH is the first to have the new Business Class seats installed.

A6-EQI through to -EQP will follow, giving the airline nine Boeing 777-300ERs with the new First Class and the new Business Class.

The airline is not stopping there though – 81 of these aircraft will eventually feature the new Business Class seats, with the airline promising to turn out a refitted 777 every two weeks over the coming years, in order to achieve this.

While this certainly isn’t the world’s most exciting product release, you can now find these cabins operating daily to and from Geneva (EK83/84), since 7th August 2024.

Future rollouts already announced by the carrier include:

• From 22nd September 2024
  Geneva (EK89/90)
  second daily flight, for 100% operation on the route
• From 1st October 2024
  Zurich (EK85/EK86)
  Riyadh (EK819/820)
• From 9th October 2024
  Brussels (EK181/182)
  except Tuesdays

Thankfully it’s not too difficult to predict which routes will receive the refitted jets after this, since the nine-strong fleet of aircraft that also include the “game changer” First Class also fly between Dubai and destinations including London Heathrow and Tokyo Haneda.

Eventually Singapore will likely see refitted Boeing 777-300ER operation, as the product becomes more widely installed across the fleet, though this could still take some time and the Lion City won’t be in the first batch, since it does not currently receive these newer 777 jets.

First Class

As we mentioned earlier, Emirates’ initial nine Boeing 777 aircraft undergoing refit are already equipped with the carrier’s “game changer” enclosed First Class suites in a two-row 1-1-1 configuration.

We have a full review of this fantastic product on a flight from Geneva to Dubai back in 2018, shortly after its initial launch.

While this seat offers a great experience, its limited deployment on the Emirates network has always been an issue, since it only features on nine aircraft.

It’s currently unclear whether the airline intends to also fit this product as part of its wider Boeing 777-300ER refit programme from aircraft 10 onwards, but with a two-week downtime per jet that seems unlikely.

We may need to wait until the Boeing 777-9 arrives in the Emirates fleet (no earlier than Q2 2026 according to President Tim Clark) to finally see a wider rollout for this one.

Premium Economy

One nice development resulting from this Boeing 777-300ER refit is that they are becoming four-class aircraft, with the inclusion of a Premium Economy cabin, which Emirates intends to eventually fit fleet-wide.

This product was first introduced in December 2020 on the airline’s latest Airbus A380 cabin refits.

24 seats are installed in a 2-4-2 layout, with 40 inches of pitch, 19.5 inches of seat width and a 8-inch recline. That’s a little more legroom than Singapore Airlines offers for its Premium Economy seats.

Emirates chose the Recaro PL3530 model, which has been heavily customised by the airline with cream-coloured anti-stain leather, including stitching details and a wood panel finish similar to the airline’s latest Business Class seats.

Each seat features 6-way adjustable headrests, calf rests and footrests. A 13.3″ personal in-flight entertainment screen is also offered.

There’s also a wide dining table, side cocktail table and of course the obligatory in-seat charging points to keep your devices ‘on the go’.

Premium Economy is still not a product we particularly value (industry-wide), but for those who appreciate the option it certainly looks to be among the better ones out there, including a 2-inch legroom benefit over the Singapore Airlines version.

What about upcoming aircraft types?

The next major introduction to Emirates’ fleet is the Airbus A350-900, with the first of 65 aircraft due to enter service in December 2024.

Edinburgh will be the first destination, followed by Bahrain and Kuwait from January 2025.

The big question now is – what kind of Business Class seats will these aircraft get?

All we know so far is that the aircraft will be in a four-class configuration, comprising:

• 32 seats in Business Class
• 21 seats in Premium Economy
• 259 seats in Economy
• 312 seats in total

Business Class on these aircraft will also be by Safran Seats, but that company’s products include the Safran Unity that Emirates’ partner Qantas is installing on its upcoming Airbus A350s, so it’s not necessarily what you see above.

Boeing 787-8s and Boeing 787-10s also join the fleet from mid-2025, though interestingly they aren’t mentioned as being included in the Emirates-Safran press release when it comes to cabin products… could these narrower planes get a completely different Business Class?

Whatever happens, let’s hope the airline has something more exciting up its sleeve for these newer types, since this one on refitted 777s is frankly uninspiring.

Emirates was certainly playing up its new Business Class product for refitted Boeing 777-300ERs lately, with a promises of “raising the industry benchmark”, “next-level technology” and “an unmatchable onboard experience”.

Unfortunately the airline has decided to install the same Business Class seat it already offers on the Airbus A380, effectively a 16-year-old design, with some minor updates.

Even wireless charging, now practically standard in new Business Class seat designs, doesn’t get included here.

81 of the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ERs in total will be refitted with this product, and at least on the plus side that will finally offer customers some consistency across Emirates Business Class, whether your flight is operated by the Airbus A380 or the 777.

All eyes now will be on the product the carrier has chosen for the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777-9 – surely it’s not this… surely not.

(Cover Photo: Emirates)