Michelle Sutton of Quay Travel says she has definitely seen an uptake.

‘A lot of people are interested, they are coming in and asking for premium economy because they see the value in it. Our clients want as few stops as possible – many of them are flying for business.’

Rinku Singh, Shore Travel, who lived in Dubai for 18 years, says she is making a lot of bookings for Emirates Dubai packages and within that is a steady number of people looking for premium economy as well as business and first class.

‘I think since Covid a lot of people are less enthusiastic about economy class – especially for long haul.

‘And a lot of people still have spending power – the trend towards premium economy and business is definitely continuing.

Chris Lethbridge, Emirates New Zealand country manager, confirms that the uptake for the newly introduced class has been ‘fantastic.’

‘I think the timing was perfect – it is a supply and demand situation. People are looking for something a little special with the business class price point.’

His says premium economy has already been running around 80% capacity just over a month since its deployment on Auckland’s EK448 service and a little more than a week since Christchurch’s re-established EK412 service.

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