Inside Emirates’ $5 billion retrofit: ‘DIY Dubai’ video highlights next-gen flying experience
A playful take on world’s largest aviation cabin transformation project
DUBAI – Emirates has released a new campaign video titled ‘DIY Dubai’, offering a light-hearted yet ambitious look at its $5 billion retrofit programme, one of the largest cabin refurbishment projects in global aviation.
The initiative involves the complete overhaul of interiors across 219 aircraft, reinforcing the airline’s long-term commitment to elevating its onboard experience under its “fly better” promise.
‘DIY Dubai’
The video is styled as a parody of home renovation television gameshows, reimagined at aviation scale. It follows an Emirates Captain and his family who decide, in a fictional storyline, to refurbish a Boeing 777 aircraft instead of renovating their home. The concept unfolds as a fictional show titled ‘Do It Yourself Dubai’, blending humour with the vast complexity of real-world aviation engineering.
Behind the playful narrative lies a serious industrial operation. The scenes cut between the on-screen storyline and Emirates Engineering facilities in Dubai, where teams of engineers carry out detailed aircraft transformations. Each aircraft undergoes a complete strip-out of its interior before being rebuilt with new cabins, seating configurations, lighting systems, and upgraded passenger features.
The retrofitted aircraft include Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 777-200LR models, which are now operating across 40 destinations, with a further 10 scheduled to follow. Current routes include major global cities such as London, New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Mumbai, Cape Town, and Beijing, reflecting the airline’s extensive international network. Additional destinations such as Karachi, Singapore, Milan, and Ho Chi Minh City are set to join the programme rollout.
From May 2026, the video will feature globally across platforms, reinforcing Emirates’ positioning as a premium carrier offering upgraded interiors, enhanced seating comfort, advanced inflight entertainment systems, and refined dining experiences. The campaign also highlights improvements in cabin design, storage solutions, and onboard connectivity.
Production of the video was completed through a combination of studio filming in Prague and real aircraft shoots in Dubai, with creative direction and production handled by Framestore Pictures in London. The campaign brings together actors representing Emirates’ diverse workforce, mirroring the scale and coordination of the actual retrofit programme, which continues to operate as one of the most extensive cabin modernisation projects in aviation history.