Emirates Engineering has successfully completed the reconfiguration of the second Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in its fleet from three to two cabin classes, fully in-house, at its hangars in Dubai, UAE, according to a report from state news agency Wam.
The reconfigured aircraft also features new, wider business class seats in a 2-2-2 format, a new social area in business class, as well as a fully refreshed economy class.
The first reconfigured Emirates Boeing 777-200LR aircraft took to the skies in early March 2018.
The eight remaining Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in Emirates fleet will be progressively reconfigured by mid-2019 and deployed to a number of other cities on the airlines global network including Santiago (Chile), Emirates’ latest destination in South America.
Emirates has invested over $150mn to reconfigure the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in its fleet.
Working with internal stakeholders as well as external suppliers, it took Emirates Engineering only 22 months from the time the decision was made to reconfigure the airlines Boeing 777-200LR fleet to the first reconfigured aircraft rolling out of the hangars ready for its first commercial flight.
The engineering team also had to secure approvals from regulatory authorities, including the General Civil Aviation Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration in order to modify the aircraft from its original design, added the report.