The world’s largest passenger plane has taken to the skies with a new look.
Emirates' first retrofitted A380 entered service on Friday, departing Dubai for London Heathrow.
The jet has undergone weeks of round-the-clock work as engineers and technicians took apart and refitted its entire interior piece by piece.
Flight number EK003 is the first of 120 aircraft being refitted as part of Emirates' multibillion-dollar retrofit programme, the largest of its kind in aviation history.
The double-decker jet's fully refreshed interior now has four classes of cabin, including premium economy, which features wider seats and more legroom than economy.
Sleek cabins in first and business class sport Emirates' latest cream-coloured leather seats, while light wood finishing and carpets and stairs have been upgraded. Hand-stencilled panels featuring ghaf trees — which are native to the UAE — have been added to the first-class shower spa.
Registered A6-EVM, the aircraft is expected to land in the UK at 6.20pm local time on Friday.
“Customers will notice the difference the moment they step on board — the spacious A380 will look and feel even more impressive and comfortable,” said Tim Clark, president of Emirates. "With our latest interiors and products, this newly refurbished aircraft elevates our in-flight experience in all classes of travel, and enables us to offer more premium economy seats to meet customer demand."
The refit was undertaken in Dubai at the airline’s state-of-the-art engineering centre.
“I’m particularly proud that this refurbishment work was designed, conducted and completed in-house at our facilities in Dubai, to the highest standards of quality and safety. It reflects the world-class aviation capabilities and infrastructure that exists within Emirates, and here in the UAE,” said Clark.
Next up for a makeover is aircraft registered A6-EUW, with work expected to be completed on the second plane by the end of January.
In numbers: 4,000 premium economy seats and 728 first-class suites
The airline's operation will result in nearly 4,000 premium economy seats installed, 728 first-class suites refreshed and more than 5,000 business class seats upgraded.
As work progresses, Emirates will withdraw an aircraft from its fleet every eight days as engineers work simultaneously on two aircraft. This will allow the airline to complete work on all 67 superjumbo jets in the retrofit programme by 2024.
Attention will then turn to 53 Emirates Boeing 777s that are also due to be retrofitted by April 2025.
To master the world's biggest retrofit programme, the airline recruited hundreds of new staff dedicated to the project.
Emirates previously planned to debut its first retrofitted A380 in December on a flight to New York. The airline said that supply chain delays affected that plan.
"Due to supply chain delays impacting our retrofit programme, plans for deployment of aircraft fitted with Emirates premium economy seats changed and new timelines for the cities that were initially scheduled to receive the aircraft will be communicated in due course," a representitive for the airline told The National.
"Customers have been provided with alternative options and we hope to bring our premium economy service and newly refreshed cabins to additional cities as more aircraft roll out of the retrofit programme.”
As travel demand is at its strongest since the global pandemic, Emirates continues to ramp up its A380 services with plans to deploy the world's largest passenger jet to 42 destinations by the end of March.
Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
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Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.