Among the most exciting developments in the world of commercial aviation in recent years has been the launch of premium economy seating at Emirates. More recently, the Dubai-based airline has also been in the news amid the introduction of the Airbus A350 on its network, breaking the long-standing fleet duopoly of the A380 and the 777 at the airline. Now, it has devised a new A350 layout.
More premium economy seats
According to Aero Routes, Emirates is planning to launch a new three-class configuration onboard its Airbus A350-900 widebody twinjets in the fourth quarter of 2025. While the aircraft’s existing layout at the UAE flag carrier also has three classes of travel onboard, the new layout will place a greater emphasis on the premium economy cabin with which Emirates has generated so many headlines.
Aero Routes notes that Emirates’ new cabin configuration for its twin-aisle Airbus A350-900 aircraft will have 298 seats onboard, and be designated by the code 359U. This figure will consist of 32 seats in business class, 28 in premium economy, and 238 in economy class. Initially, the UAE flag carrier plans to introduce the layout this northern winter, but Aero Routes advises that this is likely to change.
As it stands, the first route that will see service from A350s with the new setup is the short-haul hop between Emirates’ hub at Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Bahrain (BAH).The new layout will reportedly be deployed on this Middle Eastern route on a daily basis as of October 25th. However, from December 2nd, the configuration will instead be used on flights from Dubai to Mumbai (BOM).
What’s the difference?
In order to understand the significance of Emirates’ planned second seating configuration for the Airbus A350-900, it is worth taking a closer look at the layout used on its existing examples of the modern widebody twinjet. According to present fleet data made available by aeroLOPA, the current configuration (designated as 359G) has 32 business, 21 premium economy, and 259 economy seats onboard.
In the former of these cabins, the 32 flatbeds are laid out in eight rows with a staggered four-abreast (1-2-1) configuration, where every single seat benefits from having direct aisle access. This cabin occupies the entirety of the real estate between the aircraft’s first and second doors. Behind this section, we find the 21 premium economy recliners in three seven-abreast rows with a 2-3-2 configuration.
These seats, situated roughly in line with the front of the aircraft’s wing section, offer a generous 40-inch seat pitch, with 19.5 inches of width and eight inches of recline. Most notably, there are the same number of seats per row as in the business class section of Emirates more densely-configured Boeing 777s, underlining the A350’s credentials as a winner in terms of passenger experience.
Meanwhile, the aircraft’s 259 economy class seats are laid out in the standard nine-abreast (3-3-3) configuration, although this narrows to 2-3-2 in row 33 due to the presence of the aircraft’s third set of doors. All in all, this layout can seat 312 passengers, with Emirates’ new layout for the A350 sacrificing 21 economy class seats for the extra seven in premium economy, at a net loss of 14 seats overall.
According to current fleet data from ch-aviation, Emirates has received three Airbus A350-900s (with an average age of just 0.2 years old) thus far, with 62 examples of the type still on order. While the aircraft’s entry into service at the Dubai-based UAE flag carrier did face delays along the way, the airline eventually received its first A350 in November 2024, unveiling it at a special event two days later.
The following month, Emirates operated its first revenue-earning flight with the Airbus A350-900, connecting its main hub at Dubai International Airport with Dammam (DMM) in Saudi Arabia. The A350 has since been deployed on short-haul flights to other Middle Eastern destinations such as Kuwait and Bahrain, with the type making its long-haul debut to Edinburgh Airport (EDI) on January 3rd.
Source: simpleflying