I haven’t thrown much shade on Emirates. While they’ve sure had an outdated 777 business class product, I haven’t taken them before, and their A380 product doesn’t look bad at all.
Emirates Airbus A380-800 Business Class
A few days ago Emirates revealed they’d be unveiling their new business class product at ITB Berlin. Of course, seeing Cathay Pacific had a booth there, I had hopes that Cathay Pacific would follow Emirates’ tracks, but apparently it doesn’t seem like so. 😉
As per AusBT, Emirates has finally revealed their new 777-300ER business class product. So how good does it look?
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class (courtesy Executive Traveler)
Well, Emirates has chosen to retain its 2-3-2 seat layout, and even more disappointingly has gone with the traditional middle seat. While I’m fine with that on a 19-year-old Boeing 777-200 from Korean Air, the fact that Emirates is introducing this product in 2016 is rather embarrassing.
The seat does go flat, but with the actual “bones” of the product that’s about it.
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Bed (courtesy Executive Traveler)
One good thing is that the TV screens are now at 23 inches, so at least there’s some attempt at redemption there.
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class (courtesy Executive Traveler)
There’s also a minibar now standard with the A380, and the seat controls do look more complex. So while it’s not a world-class business class product by any means, the finishes will be better than what’s seen on any other forward-facing fully flat seat.
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Minibar (courtesy Executive Traveler)
Bottom Line
Would I be excited if Emirates was refreshing their current 777-300ERs to this stage? Absolutely. The privacy looks pretty awesome, especially in the middle seats. And the screens are big.
But the fact that Emirates could have gone for the Apex Suite, a reverse herringbone fully flat bed, the Solstys style business class seat or just about any business class seat with direct aisle access, and instead gone for this, is pretty cringeworthy. They’ve also said they provided “world class finishes” to the product – yes, I agree, but it’s not a good product to begin with, so why bother?
I’d still get on an Emirates 777-300ER, but I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic as I would be on, say, a Korean Air 747-8.