Emirates has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Safran to establish a new seat manufacturing and assembly plant in Dubai.
The joint industrial cooperation will initially focus on business and economy class seats for cabin retrofit projects, and will later expand to line fit.
The facility will cover 20,000 to 25,000 sqm and will be operational by Q4 2027. It will initially target production of 1,000 business class seats per year, before increasing its production capacity in phases.
Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group said, the agreement will establish Dubai as an aerospace manufacturing hub.
“We're bringing world-class seat production capabilities and supply chain to our doorstep, creating highly skilled jobs, and developing capabilities to support Emirates and produce seats for export to other carriers,” he said.
“The partnership will directly support our retrofit programme and the evolution of our onboard cabin interior requirements.”
Safran has been a key partner in Emirates' retrofit programme to date, supplying premium seating for the retrofit of the airline’s new A350 fleet.
However, in its Q3 earnings, the OEM flagged its seat business as one where it has faced “many, many challenges”.
Though Safran’s aircraft interior revenue was up 9.8% overall, seat deliveries performed poorly due to certification challenges.
Business class seat deliveries fell 28% year over year, from 592 units to 428 units. The OEM said it has “tackled the development challenges” and “addressed the supply chain issues”, but is still facing “some” certification challenges.
The MoU was announced at Dubai Airshow 2025, where Emirates also announced the next phase of its retrofit programme, covering 60 A380s and 51 777s.
Starting from August 2026, the airline will introduce a range of new onboard products alongside next-generation in-flight entertainment systems and Starlink WiFi connectivity.
Emirates Engineering, working with Airbus, Safran, Recaro, Panasonic, Starlink, and UUDS, will introduce the latest seating designs and a new onboard lounge across the 60 A380s.
Panasonic's Astrova in-flight entertainment system will also be installed across the 111 aircraft scheduled for retrofit.
Finally, Emirates has also announced an enhanced codeshare agreement with South African Airways.
Under the agreement, Emirates customers will have access from Johannesburg to three domestic points in South Africa and a thirteen regional points in Africa.
The codeshare will enable Emirates to tap into feeder traffic from South Africa and long-haul connecting passengers from the UK and US.