100 aircraft, 44 months and 4.4 million man hours: Emirates’ retrofit programme marks major milestone

More recently, in May 2026, the Emirates Engineering team completed the two to three class retrofit of an A380, a project involving important structural changes to the aircraft including the introduction of Premium Economy Cabin in the upper deck of the aircraft for the very first time.

In November 2022, the very first Emirates aircraft, an Airbus A380, underwent retrofit at the Emirates Engineering hangars in Dubai.

Emirates’ Engineering team also developed innovative solutions to handle a project of monumental scale including the use of modified catering trucks inside the hangars to move large parts to and from the retrofit workshop to the aircraft.