Emirates: Profit and premium Economy

Emirates Profit, despite COVID-19 for the last 12 months was 21% up on the previous year at US$288 million. If you widen the results out to include other divisions of the Group like dnata, then the profit totals US$456 million

What happened to the effect of COVID-19 you may ask? Well, the Emirates financial reporting period ended on March 31, so they really only saw a week of effect, since they suspended all flights on 23 March.

Don’t expect their 2021 results to look so rosy.

Premium Economy – delayed or not?

Just about now was when Emirates was going to introduce its Premium Economy class on refurbished A380’s. Emirates is a very late convert to this cabin concept, previously arguing that it would cannibalise Business Class.

There are conflicting reports about whether the airline is delaying the launch due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The advent of this cabin has not been easy. It has been affected by the delay in the launch of the Boeing 777X aircraft (pushed back by 6 months). Then expected to be debuted on newly delivered A380’s later this year, and slowly rolled out as a retrofit to existing aircraft – B777 and A380’s.

The launch of a new Premium Economy cabin would not usually excite the industry too much, but with rumours that the new seat is the completely new Eclipse product from HAECO.

Announced in April 2019 at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, the new seat was to have its debut on:

‘The launch customer − an as yet unnamed Middle East-based airline − will begin flying with the seats in 2020.’

HAECO press release, 3 April 2019

The seats are distinctive due to their staggered format which the manufacturer trumpets as a way to increase in cabin capacity:

“The unique advantages of the Eclipse seat, together with the integrated cabin, can create up to a 14% increase in PAX within the same cabin space.”

Doug Rasmussen, President and Group Director of HAECO Cabin Solutions

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

I’m not sure about these seats if they are indeed what Emirates will be installing. The staggering makes them very private, but very weird to get in and out of, or at least that’s the way they look in the images.

The seat has 38 inches of pitch (that’s 6 inches more than economy) and 10 of recline, and is described as a ‘sleeperette’ style of cradle seat. Think old style business class, without any possibility of going flat.

The question is now, not is the Eclipse the seat they will install, but when will they launch the new Premium Economy cabin in the light of COVID-19. Keep to schedule, or delay it? You decide.