Dubai, July 14 (WAM) - Emirates has achieved a historic milestone by successfully completing comprehensive upgrades and renewals of 100 aircraft as part of its massive fleet renewal program, which is the largest known program implemented by an airline in the world.

Since work began on the program in November 2022, Emirates has completed comprehensive upgrades for 47 Airbus A380s and 53 Boeing 777s at the Emirates Engineering Center hangars in Dubai.

Upgrades are scheduled to be completed for an additional 20 aircraft by the end of December 2026, meaning more than half of the program will have been completed. The carrier has invested $5 billion in the program with the goal of providing its best products and services and continuously offering a superior travel experience to its passengers.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates, said that implementing our massive fleet renewal program is part of our ongoing commitment to provide the best products across all of our aircraft cabins. We are proud to have completed comprehensive upgrades for 100 wide-body aircraft in 44 months, which is a remarkable achievement in aviation. By investing $5 billion in this program, we ensure that our passengers enjoy an enhanced travel experience with high levels of luxury, comfort and attention to detail in every cabin.

He added that implementing such a large and complex project internally in Dubai required precise planning, highly skilled craftsmanship, and unparalleled technical capabilities. Our team has successfully redefined the concepts for upgrading the two largest passenger aircraft in the commercial aviation sector to ensure that each aircraft returns to service on time and in excellent condition.

A team from Emirates Engineering Center, comprising more than 400 engineers and technicians, has worked for a total of 4.4 million work hours over 44 months to upgrade 100 aircraft. This includes advanced cabin upgrades and the installation of new premium economy cabins. More than 3,800 new seats have been installed in the upgraded aircraft’s premium economy cabins, which will help accelerate the availability of this popular class on more destinations across Emirates’ network.

Since the project began in November 2022, Emirates Engineering Center has upgraded an average of 28 aircraft per year.

The upgrades required complex engineering and technical work, including the complete disassembly of the aircraft’s interior components. All cabins were then comprehensively renovated using more than 4,000 parts for the A380 and over 2,500 parts for the Boeing 777. Every internal component was then reassembled with extreme precision.