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A report in Australian Business Traveller indicates that Emirates, the biggest of the Middle Eastern carriers, is looking at introducing a Premium Economy cabin on to its aircraft at some point in the future. To put things in perspective this isn’t going to happen overnight and may yet not happen at all but Emirates is definitely looking into its options.
The airline’s CEO, Tim Clark, took the opportunity of a recent press conference on Emirates’ financial results to say the following:
We’re looking at all sorts of opportunities in terms of product development but clearly there’s a business case for looking seriously at premium economy.
There’s nothing ambiguous about that statement although clearly nothing has been decided:
That’s not to say we are definitely going to do it, but we are looking at it.
As the Business Class cabins of the world’s airlines improve dramatically (with the notable exception of British Airways) the gap between Economy and Business Class has got wider and wider and some airlines are looking to fill that gap. That’s probably a very smart move (if one I’m not too keen on with my own airline of choice).
Etihad A380 – I don’t need First Class when Business Class is this good
I’ve often said that, generally, I can’t bring myself to cough up the extra miles needed for a First Class award ticket when Business Class on most airlines is more than good enough for me (that’s not me being low-maintenance, that’s just how good the Business Class hard product often is) but I’ll happily do whatever it takes not to sit in Economy.
The gap between the products is just too big and airlines like Singapore Airlines (who are already flying their new Premium Economy product) and American Airlines (who will be introducing Premium Economy to their international fleet at the end of 2016) are moving to monetize that gap. These airline know that there are a lot of customers, like me, who will consider paying a little bit more (either in miles or in cash) not to have to sit in a 17″ wide seat with 30″ of seat pitch on an 11 hour flight.
How American Airlines Premium Economy may look
As AUBT points out, some airlines have been reluctant to introduce Premium Economy cabins in case it gives their higher-paying Business Class passengers a lower-cost option they’re happy to take….but I don’t see that being an argument for Emirates.
Emirates flys the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft and on those A380s are some of the world’s largest Business Class cabins and some of the world’s largest Economy class cabins too…there is no reason why they couldn’t fit a Premium Economy cabin in there too.
I’m not privy to the details of Emirates’ passenger loads on the routes where it flies the two-class A380s with 557 Economy Class seats, but I’d be very surprised if loads were so high that they couldn’t remove a few rows from the Economy Class cabin to make way for some Premium Economy seating.
Emirates High-Capacity Airbus A380 – Screenshot from SeatGuru
On two versions of the A380 that Emirates flys the airline has 76 Business Class seats and I struggle to believe that the airline fills all those seats with revenue passengers on all of the routes those aircraft fly – that’s where a Premium Economy product may make sense. The airline could capture passengers that are willing to pay a bit more to get out of Economy Class but aren’t willing to pay for Business Class.
Bottom Line
I can see Emirates following through with this because they have the aircraft on which to make this work without disrupting their other cabins too much.
The fact that it would make Emirates a better fit with Qantas (as AUBT points out) is neither here nor there and will almost certainly not feature to highly on Emirates’ list of considerations – there are airline partnerships all around the world where the partners haven’t had cabins that match up for years (AA/BA) and it hasn’t done them much harm to date.
From a miles & points perspective an Emirates Business Class cabin may be both good and bad news:
It would be good news for some if the airline was to price Premium Economy closer to Economy Class than to Business Class (in terms of miles needed for an award) but it may be bad need for Business Class award availability if Emirates shrinks Business Class cabins to accommodate the new product.
Still, for now this is all just speculation…but it will be interesting to see how this develops.
