The Business Travel Magazine June/July 2019

Air travel / Business class
Suite
SENSATIONS
Airlines are upping the ante in business class.
Gary Noakes examines the latest trends – including
BA’s long-awaited new offering
It began with the cradle seat, morphed
into the flat bed, but now the airline
industry's latest must-have business
class feature is sliding doors.
The enclosed or semi-enclosed cabin in
business class is what all top airline models
are sporting this season, with personal space
onboard becoming the key selling point for
the next few years.
The most eagerly awaited new cabin is of
course from British Airways. BA is dispensing
with its current bewildering Club World
layout in favour of a 1-2-1 format that
guarantees aisle access without having to
step over another passenger’s feet and,
unlike the current design, all seats face
forward. The new Club Suite product is fully
enclosed once the door is shut and has a
bigger 18.5-inch TV plus PC and USB power
points and high-speed wifi.
“It’s probably the largest decision I took
since coming in [to the airline],” said the
airline’s Chairman and CEO Alex Cruz at the
recent ITM Conference. “A lot of analysis had
been done but no decisions had been taken.
But we took it [the decision] very early on
because we know it takes a long time.”
He continued: “The seat that we have
announced is a very significant evolution,
but it’s not just about the seat. The seat is
the hardware... we have wifi, new bedding,
new food onboard, the lounges... I’m pretty
convinced that at the back end of next year
we will begin to be referred to as having the
best Club in the air.”
The full reveal of the 56-seat cabin takes
place when the first of BA’s Airbus A350s is
delivered from July. The aircraft will initially
operate between Heathrow and Madrid to
familiarise crews before commencing longhaul
routes from October 1.
The A350 has no first class, so will not
operate routes where this cabin is a big
selling point, but will initially serve “selected”
services to Toronto and then Dubai. This
autumn will see another three A350s join the
fleet and the first two Boeing 777s being
refitted with the new product.
The refit will be of interest to buyers, as the
Club Suites will presumably take up more
space than the existing Club World seats, and
fewer seats may mean higher prices. In
response, BA will only say that it “hasn’t yet
announced the seat config for the 777 refits”.
If travellers develop a liking for the enclosed
BA cabin, they won’t find it on flights run by
transatlantic partner American Airlines,
whose seat does not feature a door at all.
It’s the reverse picture with Virgin Atlantic
and Delta. The latter has gone full door, while
Virgin, which will also debut its new seat on
an A350 this summer, has opted for a partial
sliding door. A Virgin spokesperson says:
“The feedback from customers was that they
wanted privacy but still wanted to interact
with each other and our crew.”
74 THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com