Emirates Airline held a well-attended ceremony this week to introduce its first Airbus A350-900, the third widebody in its fleet, joining the A380 and Boeing 777.
Configured with 312 seats in three classes, the new aircraft will debut its first flight on January 3rd on the Dubai-Edinburgh route, meaning the carrier has been able to make up for a few days of delay in its original schedule.
The first new jet to be added since 2008, Emirates’ A350-900 will have a number of different features, the airline explained. These include improved seats, wider aisles, larger TV screens and other amenities.
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The A6-EXA aircraft delivered by Airbus is the “regional” variant of the A350, according to Emirates. With a range of up to 15 hours, the widebody will be used on flights to destinations such as Bahrain, Muscat and Kuwait, Lyon and Bologna in Europe, and Colombo, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in West Asia.
A350 for long flights
The Dubai carrier, however, intends to receive a long-range version of the A350-900 in mid-2025, which is not the A350 “ULR” that flies to Singapore and can stay in the air for up to 20 hours.
This is an aircraft with a crew rest area and a more spacious seating configuration, carrying up to 298 passengers.
The difference is in the smaller economy class (238 versus 259 seats) and the larger premium economy (28 versus 21 seats). Business class carries the same 32 people.
It’s worth noting that Emirates’ premium economy isn’t all about the extra legroom that other airlines offer. The seat layout is 2+3+2, rather than the 3+3+3 of regular economy.
The pace of deliveries of the A350, however, is still uncertain. Emirates, which had planned to have 12 of them this year, could receive between a dozen and 20 planes by 2025.
The 65 jets were supposed to be delivered by 2028, but that timeline may have changed amid supply chain issues.
