Video: Dubai’s Emirates to revamp A380 onboard lounge

Dubai airline Emirates has revealed to plans to revamp the interiors for both its A380 and Boeing 777 fleet.

The multi-million dollar cabin interiors upgrade programme includes an enhanced onboard lounge for its flagship Airbus A380 aircraft, the carrier said in a statement.

While retaining the horseshoe-shaped bar, the new A380 lounge will offer more space with a new seating arrangement along the windows on both sides of the bar.

Each seating area will have a table and window view. Overall, the lounge can accommodate up to 26 passengers at a time, including eight seated.

The new lounge will also feature lighter champagne colours in the cabin and lounge seating, along with a glossy dark wood trim for “an airier look and feel”, the statement said.

Soundproof curtains will be introduced to partition the lounge area from the other cabins, along with additional soft ambiance lighting options, new window blinds with LED mood lighting, and subwoofers for surround sound. The lounge will also feature a 55-inch LCD screen.

It will continue to be located on the upper deck of the aircraft, for first and business class passengers.

The new lounge will be publicly unveiled at trade fair ITB Berlin in early March.

It is currently being installed in one of Emirates’ brand new A380 aircraft at Airbus’ facilities, and will make its operational debut in July 2017, the statement added.

Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline said: “The A380 onboard lounge is hugely popular with our customers, and has become an iconic feature of Emirates’ A380 offering, particularly on long-haul flights.

“Since we first launched the product in 2008, our A380 onboard lounge has gone through small but successive enhancements in line with customer feedback to increase the amount of space for our customers to socialise in the lounge.

“In our latest revamp, we have taken inspiration from private yacht cabins, and we have increased the seating space, and also made it more intimate and conducive for our passengers to socialise or enjoy our lounge service.”

All of Emirates’ 93 A380 currently in service feature the onboard lounge, which offers gourmet canapés, handpicked wines, limited edition fine spirits, and signature cocktails prepared by the bartender.

Emirates is the world’s largest operator of the A380 aircraft, with 93 of the double-decked aircraft in service and a further 49 on order.

It flies the jumbo jet to 46 cities and has carried nearly 70 million passengers on the aircraft since 2008.