If you are planning to book a trip for next summer with Emirates take a further look at the plane with which you will fly the route between Milan and Dubai and Rome and Dubai. Why the Emirati carrier will introduce a new aircraft on the two routes.
No, it’s not the Airbus A350. But about the Boeing 777-200LRLong Range version of the popular 777-200ER.
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It will do so to and from Milan starting from 1 May 2026, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER which currently operates the EK101/EK 102 Dubai-Milan-Dubai flights. And to and from Rome starting from March 29th (i.e. from the first day of Summer 2026), adding a third rotation on the leg which until March 28th will instead be served twice a day (with a Boeing 777-300ER and an Airbus A380).
Beyond its exceptional flight autonomy capabilities (it is the plane with which Air India flies to the western USA, 16-17 hours non-stop), which however are of little use between Italy and Dubai, the -200LR from Emirates (the carrier has 10 in its fleet, compared to 130 -300ERs) it is configured very differently from the 777-300ER because it does not have a First cabin, but only Business and Economy.
This means that on Milan-Dubai-Milan, one of the three flights will lose its premier class and the overall daily availability of seats in First will go from 48 to 32. The number of seats in Business and Economy will also decrease, given that the -200LR has, respectively, 38 instead of 42 and 264 instead of 304, with a daily decrease in the offer of 8 and 80 seats, respectively.
So far it’s a downgrade. Howeverwhile in Economy the two products are equivalent, in Business Class, Emirates -200LRs have a better product than the not yet renewed -777-300ERs, like those that will operate until April 30th on the Milan-Dubai-Milan route.
In fact, each row actually has 6 seats (2-2-2) instead of 7 (2-3-2 with the horrible middle seat), the seats are fully flat instead of angled-flat, The distance between rows of seats is 72 inches (183cm) instead of 60 inches (152cm), seat width is 22 inches (56cm) instead of 20.5 inches (52cm) and the IFE screen is 23 inches instead of 17. Numbers for which the transition between the -300ER (in its old configuration) and the -200LR can be defined as a clear upgrade.
It is possible that the introduction of a smaller car is a prelude to the arrival, both in Milan and in Rome (where flights will remain three per day even after the end of Summer 2026), of the A350, which in terms of overall capacity is similar to the 777-200LR and does not have a First Class (but has Premium Economy). Until mid-December 2026 (last date currently bookable on the Emirates website) there is no trace of the A350 in the two major Italian cities, but it is possible that the Airbus model will arrive with Summer 2027.
