Emirates Adds Premium Economy to More Airbus A380s

Updated: May 20, 2026, 9:02am CDT

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Some Emirates A380s Are Upgrading From 2-Class to 3-Class
Where Will Emirates New 3-Class Airbus A380s Fly?
Final Thoughts

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Emirates’ multi-billion-dollar aircraft retrofitting project has just entered a new phase.

The first Airbus A380, which would usually offer only economy and business class cabins, has now been upgraded to feature the airline’s award-winning premium economy cabin.

“The reconfiguration of our two-class A380 into a three-class layout that brings our popular Premium Economy seating onto the upper deck illustrates the extensive capabilities of our team,” said Tim Clark, president at Emirates.

Let’s take a look at the details and what this could mean for your next Emirates A380 flight.

Some Emirates A380s Are Upgrading From 2-Class to 3-Class

The first of 15 Emirates Airbus A380s has been retrofitted with a shiny new premium economy cabin. It flew passengers for the first time on May 20 when it departed Dubai (DXB) for Birmingham (BHX) in the U.K.

To make way for the premium economy cabin, the capacity of the superjumbo has been reduced from a whopping 615 seats to 569.

Premium economy on Emirates retrofitted 2 Class Airbus A380 — 56 seats make up a large premium economy cabin. Image Credit: Emirates

This means that Emirates now operates 5 subfleets of Airbus A380s, each with a different capacity.

The new 3-class has 76 business-class seats, 56 premium economy seats (located on the upper deck), and 437 seats in economy. The new 3-class A380s are not to be confused with the original 3-class A380s which have economy, business, and first-class cabins.

It marks an important next step for Emirates in providing more premium economy capacity for passengers who can afford to upgrade to the next level of comfort up from economy.

Hot Tip:

Check out the many ways to earn Emirates Skywards miles, which you can use to book upcoming flights.

Where Will Emirates New 3-Class Airbus A380s Fly?

The 14 2-class aircraft that remain make up a very small percentage of Emirates’ 116-strong Airbus A380 fleet. That’s because these jets are mainly used on routes connecting Europe via Dubai to popular vacation destinations like Bangkok, Thailand (BKK); Denpasar, Bali (DPS); Mauritius (MRU); and even the Maldives (MLE).

Historically, leisure passengers from smaller capitals and second cities like Barcelona, Spain (BCN); Düsseldorf, Germany (DUS); Manchester, England (MAN); and Prague, Czechia (PRG) would often just fit into 2 categories: economy or business class. Such is no longer the case.

With the installation of premium economy on these jets, Emirates is capitalizing on the rise in popularity of this comfier cabin class among vacationers. This is also a win for travelers on Emirates’ U.S. routes who can now fly premium economy from their home city via Dubai to more global destinations.

Final Thoughts

Having experienced it myself, I can confirm that Emirates’ premium economy is fantastic. As Emirates starts to say goodbye to its 2-class Airbus A380s, a new era of premium economy maximization is here.