Emirates’ A350s are getting a new business class …. but not yet

After several delays, Emirates finally took delivery of its first A350 jet this week and announced it would start flying from Edinburgh from 3rd January 2025.

It’s an exciting time for the airline, as the A350 is the first new aircraft type at Emirates since 2008 when it welcomed the A380. Like the super jumbo, the A350 offers one of the most comfortable cabins available with higher humidity, lower cabin altitude and a quieter interior all improving the onboard experience.

Despite all that, there has been some disappointment online at the interiors of the cabin and in particular its business class seating.

This is because the A350 features the same staggered seat that was first introduced in 2008 on the airline’s A380s and which I reviewed here.

Whilst the latest version has some upgraded tech and finishes, the underlying seat has now been flying for 16 years – quite a long time however you look at it.

Whilst it was a cutting edge experience back then, in the intervening years other airlines have leapfrogged it and introduced business class suites with closing doors for improved privacy.

The good news is that change is on the way. Earlier this year, Emirates CEO Tim Clark confirmed to me that a brand new business class was coming but that it would not feature on the first few A350 deliveries.

As we’ve seen, the initial A350s will come with the A380 seat:

“We’re going to do the best we can with our business cabin, it will be a 1-2-1 layout rather than 2-3-2, spacious. In the early stage it will replicate what we do on the A380 on the upper deck in business, but with slightly more room and more modern technology both in the design and build of it.”

“The next stage after [the initial A350 deliveries] will be a new design for business class. I’m not going to say what it is, but I just wish that we had a patent on the doors that we designed for the A340-500 suites because everybody’s using putting doors on now! It will be a great aeroplane, it’s going to be extremely comfortable.”

By the sounds of it, Emirates’ next generation business class seat will come with doors. Other details remain under wraps, and there’s been no update on the timeline for when this next generation seat will roll out.

Sir Tim has already stated that it will have two cabin configurations on the A350 – a ‘regional’ variant for flights up to 12 hours, which is what it unveiled this week, as well as an ultra-long haul variant for flights up to 16 hours. This variant reduces the passenger count slightly and installs a crew rest facility. It’s possible that the all-new seat will debut on this second variant.

Why the delay? Almost all airlines have been struggling with manufacturers to get seats delivered on time and it seems that Emirates has not been immune. The A350 was originally due to start commercial operations in early November, but this has now been pushed back by two months.

In the meantime, Emirates continues to install the comfortable but no longer game-changing A380 business class seat across its fleet. This includes the Boeing 777 refurbishment where it is phasing out a very dated 2-3-2 configuration.

For its real next-generation seat, it seems we (and in particular the residents of Edinburgh, who are among the first to welcome the aircraft) will have to exercise a little more patience.

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How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (January 2025)

Emirates Skywards does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Emirates Skywards miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 15,000 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 37,500 Emirates Skywards miles

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 7,500 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 4:3 into Emirates Skywards miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 0.75 Emirates Skywards miles. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, with any airline.