British Airways has revealed a new business class product called Club Suite, which will be featured on the first of its A350 aircraft due for delivery this July, with Boeing 777s and Boeing 787s to follow.
The new business class Club Suites boast their own sliding doors – something that even BA’s first class suites lack – for near-total privacy.
Each Club Suite offers direct aisle access in a 1-2-1 configuration. They will feature 40 per cent more storage than previous business class products, including a vanity unit and mirror, Wi-Fi, 18.5-inch entertainment screens and PC/USB power points.
As well as the 56-suite Club World cabin, BA’s A350 will include the latest 56 World Traveller Plus seats and 219 in the World Traveller economy cabin.
British Airways, which is celebrating its centenary this year, says it will roll out the Club Suite “in a carefully managed programme” to limit disruption to passengers.
During the initial phase, the first A350 will operate some flights on the London-Madrid route “to allow the airline’s teams to perfect their customer service” and familiarize cabin crew with the new layout.
From 1 October, the aircraft will be added to long-haul routes, with three further A350s entering the fleet along with two Boeing 777s that will be retrofitted with the new cabin. More aircraft will be retrofitted from 2020.
CEO and chairman Alex Cruz commented:
“The arrival of our first A350 featuring out new Club Suite is one of the most exciting developments in our £6.5 billion investment programme.”
“At British Airways we have one of Europe’s largest long-haul fleets and most far-reaching global networks, so it will take some time to make the cabin available to everybody. We hope that as more customers have the chance to experience it, they’ll enjoy travelling in it as much as we’ve enjoyed designing it.”
The Club Suite itself is based on the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond, manufactured in Northern Ireland and customized by British Airways’ in-house design team.
No details given on retrofit beyond 2019. Apparently BA have refused to confirm if Club Suite will be / won’t be retrofitted to the A380s. Guess time will tell – it’ll probably be a few years yet before decide what their plan is with the A380s – a lot will depend on the economic situation and whether or not BA have leased or bought their A380s. We do know that Club Suite won’t be installed on any of the B747s.
Installation on each aircraft will be planned around any C or D checks, First or World Traveller / Plus enhancements. They’re starting with the B777-300ER first, no word which aircraft it’ll be after that. The challenge will be the actual supply and on-time delivery of the seats from the supplier.