Emirates Unveils ‘Sleek Yet Spacious’ Airbus A350-900 With Updated Business Class Seats and Improved Wi-Fi… See Inside

Emirates has finally revealed the interior of what it describes as its “sleek yet spacious” Airbus A350-900, which is expected to enter into service in early January 2025, initially between Dubai and Edinburgh.

Don’t expect anything revolutionary, but the first pictures of the cabin sure make for a good-looking sight and are very much in keeping with Emirates’ most recent design ethos.

Who wants a walkthrough of the new @emirates Airbus A350 interior? This is good looking cabin! pic.twitter.com/PGbDvBrQqU

— Matt Maszczynski (@yourownkanoo) November 27, 2024

Basics of the Emirates A350

Emirates has 65 Airbus A350-900 aircraft on order, the first of which (registration: A6-EXA) was delivered to the airline on November 25 following a several-month delay.

Although the aircraft was initially expected to debut on flights to Bahrain, Emirates has now changed the launch destination to Edinburgh, with the inaugural service expected to depart Dubai as flight EK23 on January 3, 2025.

As more A350s are delivered in the coming months, Emirates will deploy the aircraft to eight other destinations, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kuwait, Bahrain, Colombo, Lyon, Muscat, and Bologna.

The A350-900 has a maximum range of up to 9,700 nautical miles, so the aircraft could be used to serve ultra-long-haul destinations, but as you can tell, the airline has opted to initially deploy the plane on much shorter routes.

What’s interesting is that Emirates has opted for a three-class configuration and has not installed a First Class cabin. The first 15 Airbus A350s that Emirates will take delivery of will not have a crew rest compartment and will be used for regional flights or long-haul services up to around 10 hours in duration.

The remaining 50 aircraft will have a slightly smaller Economy Class cabin to accommodate a crew rest compartment and will be able to serve some of Emirates’ longest routes.

The A350-900 is a pretty leftfield choice for Emirates given the fact that it a smaller airframe than the airline has long opted for, but airline President Sir Tim Clark has rejected the larger A350-1000 over concerns that the Rolls-Royce engines won’t perform at a high enough standard in the airline’s home environment.

Business Class

• 32-seater cabin in a 1-2-1 configuration with all-aisle access
• An updated version of the A380 Business Class seat
• USB A and C outlets, as well as wireless device charging and plug socket

Emirates has updated the new Business Class product, the S Lounge seat as it is inspired by the interior of a Mercedes S Class. It is essentially based on the same Business Class seat that has been on the flagship A380 for years but with some tweaks and improvements.

For example, the airline has added wireless device charging, USB-C outlets, and a 4K HDR TV screen. As you can see, Emirates has once again decided not to add sliding privacy doors to its A350 Business Class doors – this was anticipated and will create a uniform customer experience between different aircraft types.

Premium Economy

• 21 Premium Economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration
• 13.2-inch TV screen
• Six-way adjustable headrest
• Leg and footrests

The first Emirates A350 will have a Premium Economy cabin with just 21 seats but hinting at the fact that the airline plans several different configurations of A350, some aircraft will have a slightly larger Premium Economy cabin with 28 seats.

Again, the seats aren’t anything we haven’t already seen before after they debuted on the flagship A380 superjumbo several years ago. Nonetheless, Emirates offers a comfortable and stylish Premium Economy cabin, which seems to be withstanding the test of time despite the fact that the seats were finished in ivory-colored leather.

Economy Class

• 259 seats in a 3-3-3 configuration
• 13.3 inch 4K TV screen
• New six-way adjustable headrest
• Single pane tray tables

There’s only so much you can do with an Economy Seat – which is probably why one of the standout features selected by Emirates is the “luxurious” bronze-colored armrests.

Emirates is, however, investing in new six-way adjustable headrests. These aren’t pictured because they won’t arrive until early 2025.

The airline also boasts that passengers can stretch their legs in the large galley area at the back of the plane.

Inflight entertainment

• 4K and 4k HDR television screens
• Bluetooth pairing for headphones
• 60 watt USB-C sockets at every seat
• Faster inflight Wi-Fi
• Five aircraft camera views

Emirates has long been recognized for its excellent ICE inflight entertainment and on the A350, the airline is introducing an updated Thales system, which includes new accessibility features, Bluetooth pairing for personal headphones, and a new search function.

The system also includes enhanced live TV, an eye comfort mode to reduce blue light exposure, and the ability to skip intros and credits on shows and movies.

Emirates is installing ViaSat Global Xpress inflight Wi-Fi on its A350s, which should offer up to 10 times the current total aircraft bandwidth available on other Emirates airplanes.

Onboard service

As a possible nod to the fact that the Airbus A350 doesn’t have the most user-friendly galleyS for cabin crew to work in, Emirates says crew members will soon be undergoing special training for the service procedures that will be unique to the A350.

There is no dedicated social space for Business Class passengers, although a small area at the back of the cabin lit up by an elegant illuminated Ghaf tree motif will display small snacks and fruit that passengers can help themselves to.

Emirates rejected a new window dimming system (similar to one found on Boeing 787 Dreamliners) and has opted for the aerBlade electronic dual blind system for Business and Premium Economy cabins. At the touch of a button, the blind will automatically rise, although Economy Class cabins will still have to adjust their blinds manually.