Emirates has opened three lounges in a new global design this year — Munich and Frankfurt in June, and Manchester, a £10 million space at Terminal 2 that opened quietly in August and was officially unveiled on 24 September 2026. The Emirates new lounge at Manchester is the only one at the airport with direct boarding onto the aircraft, which for Emirates means walking from the lounge straight onto the upper deck of the A380.
On the aircraft side, the retrofitted A380 reaches Paris on 25 October 2026 on the daily EK071/072, bringing Premium Economy to Charles de Gaulle for the first time and completing the rollout of the cabin on all three of Emirates’ French routes. Here are the facts, who can use the lounges, and how this fits the wider retrofit I covered in Emirates Is Rebuilding 111 More Aircraft.
Emirates Lounges and A380 Paris: Key Facts
- New lounge design: Munich and Frankfurt (June 2026), Manchester Terminal 2 (soft opening August, official unveiling 24 September 2026) — the third location for the concept
- Manchester lounge: about £10 million; the only lounge at Manchester Airport with direct aircraft boarding; open kitchen with a “Made in Manchester” menu of local suppliers alongside international dishes; Moët & Chandon; barista bar; herringbone floors and marble counters; Italian eco-leather seating with power at every seat; shower suites; prayer rooms; a quiet zone with sleep facilities; wireless charging; Emirates’ signature scent
- Access: Emirates First and Business passengers, and Skywards Platinum and Gold members in any class, up to four hours before departure; paid access available on arrival
- Flights served at Manchester: three daily to Dubai
- A380 to Paris: retrofitted A380 on EK071/072 Dubai–Paris CDG from 25 October 2026, daily
- Premium Economy: 56 seats in 2-4-2, cream leather recliners with leg rests and six-way headrests; already flying to Lyon and Nice, where about one passenger in ten to Dubai now books it
- Retrofitted A380 cabins: 14 First, 76 Business, 56 Premium Economy and 338 Economy seats; refreshed First, Business and Economy in a cream, bronze and sky-blue palette with the ghaf tree motif
- Fares: not published; see below
An Emirates New Lounge Built Around the Gate
Emirates’ lounges outside Dubai have usually been smart but generic. The new design changes three things. The food is local — Manchester’s menu is built on regional suppliers, with an open kitchen rather than a buffet line. The space is zoned, with a quiet area with sleep facilities, shower suites and prayer rooms separated from the bar and dining. And at Manchester the lounge is the gate: passengers walk from their seat in the lounge directly onto the A380, skipping the terminal entirely. More than 50 design changes went into the concept, down to a signature scent of bergamot, citrus and jasmine.
Munich and Frankfurt opened first, in June; Manchester is the third Emirates new lounge and the first in the UK.
Premium Economy Comes to Paris
The retrofitted A380 was the first Emirates aircraft to carry Premium Economy, and Paris is the last of the airline’s three French routes to receive it, after Lyon and Nice. From 25 October the daily EK071/072 operates a refurbished superjumbo with 56 Premium Economy seats in 2-4-2 — cream leather recliners with leg rests — plus refreshed First and Business cabins in the airline’s newer cream, bronze and sky-blue palette. Emirates says roughly one in ten passengers to Dubai from Lyon and Nice now books Premium Economy, which is why the cabin is spreading so quickly. Travellers leaving Paris now also have Air France’s new La Première suite to weigh against it.
For business travellers the Paris change matters less for the seat than the aircraft: a refurbished A380 means the upper-deck bar and the newer cabin finishes on a route that has long flown older superjumbos.
Tip: on the A380, choose the upper-deck business cabin — it is the only deck with the onboard lounge, and the window seats in the newer layout have extra storage beside them.
Emirates, First-Hand
I have flown Emirates business class on the Malé–Dubai 777: friendly crew who greeted me by name, a very comfortable seat and wood-panelled cabin, let down by a dated entertainment system with a button remote. The new lounges and the refurbished A380 are aimed at exactly that gap — the hardware around the seat. Direct boarding from a lounge is the kind of ground experience that makes a long-haul day easier, and it is what I would test first.
How Much Does It Cost?
Emirates does not publish rack fares and does not charge more for the retrofitted A380 over an older one on the same route. Premium Economy is sold as a separate cabin between Economy and Business on the routes that have it — now Paris, Lyon and Nice in France. Access to the Emirates new lounge in each city is included with First and Business tickets and Skywards Gold and Platinum status; others can pay for entry at the lounge.
Flight prices do move between platforms. The same business class seat on the same date is not always the same price on the airline’s own site, Trip.com and Expedia: point-of-sale currency, consolidator fares and what is bundled into the ticket can shift the fare by a few percent — and occasionally by much more on premium cabins booked out of Asia.
So before I pay I run the same dates through Aviasales, which scans dozens of booking sites at once, then check Trip.com (often the sharpest on Asian routes) and Expedia (strongest when you add a hotel to the same booking). One caveat: a ticket bought through a booking site is changed or refunded through that site, not the airline, so read the fare rules before you buy.
A lounge that is also the gate, and a refurbished A380 to Paris — Emirates is fixing everything around the seat.
Photos © Emirates
This preview is based on official announcements — I haven’t visited Emirates’ new lounges or flown the retrofitted A380 yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
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