Emirates Reveals Plans to Send Refitted Boeing 777s With New Business Class Seats to the United States For the First Time

Emirates has laid out plans to send refitted Boeing 777s with new Business Class seats and a Premium Economy cabin to the United States for the first time with US-bound flights to Chicago, Boston, Dallas Fort Worth, Seattle all set to be served by the retrofitted aircraft in the coming months.

The Dubai-based carrier revealed its first refitted Boeing 777-300 last month with significant upgrades to the passenger experience, including finally introducing direct-aisle access for Business Class cabins.

Emirates may have disappointed some frequent flyers with its decision to simply refit its Boeing 777s with the same Business Class seat that is already on its flagship Airbus A380 superjumbos, but the decision does at least bring commonality across its fleet.

In any case, the new Business Class seats are a big upgrade from the angled seats, which were arranged in a 2-3-3 configuration with a dreaded middle seat that they replace.

Although it could take some time for Emirates to refit its entire fleet of Boeing 777s, the airline has decided to prioritize sending some of the planes that have already have the new look cabins on some of its longest routes to the United States.

Chicago will be the first destination set to see the refitted Boeing 777-300 from November 1 on a three-weekly basis on flight EK235 and flight EK236. From November 22, Chicago will receive the refitted 777-300 on a daily basis.

Then, from December 10, Boston will become the second US destination to be served by refitted 777-300s. Again, Boston will only initially see the refitted aircraft three times per week, but this will be updated to a daily service by December 18.

Early next year, Dallas Fort Worth will become the third destination served by the new Business Class cabin from January 9, 2025, although, as with Chicago and Boston, daily flights with the refitted aircraft won’t be guaranteed until January 15.

From January 24, Seattle will also start to be progressively served by refitted 777-300s, followed by Emirates’ service between Athens and Newark starting from February 10 and Miami from February 19 – initially as a four weekly service before being upgraded to daily by March 1, 2025.

Emirates’ refitted Boeing 777-300s feature a four-class configuration, with First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy. As a latecomer to offer Premium Economy, Emirates has been keen to roll out the money-making cabin across more of its fleet as quickly as possible,

“With the success and popularity of Premium Economy on routes like New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston served by our refurbished A380, we look forward to bringing a new level of comfort and privacy to more cities with refreshed cabins on our Boeing 777s,” commented the airline’s deputy president and chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim on Wednesday.

By the end of 2024, Emirates will have expanded its route network, offering Premium Economy to 27 cities. The airline will utilize more than 40 Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s that have already been refitted with the new cabins, along with its first Airbus A350s, which will be delivered soon with the cabin already installed.