British Airways has unveiled its first Airbus A350-1000 aircraft at London Heathrow. G-XWBA, the latest addition to the British Airways fleet, touched down at the airline’s home on Saturday after its delivery was delayed.
Having ordered the 18 of the Airbus A350-1000 in 2013, the airline has been waiting around six years for the order. Today must come as a relief to both the airline and travelers alike. The aircraft is expected to call London Heathrow its home for the next few days before its inaugural flight on August 5th to Madrid.
British Airways will receive four Airbus A350-1000 aircraft this year. By a huge coincidence, long-haul rivals Virgin Atlantic will also be receiving four Airbus A350-1000s this year. This means that by the end of the year, there will be a total of eight British registered Airbus A350-1000s.
Both carriers will be debuting similar business class seats on their Airbus A350s. However, while Virgin has already showcased theirs in April, British Airways showcased the Club World Suite today at the A350’s Heathrow delivery ceremony.
While we’ve mentioned the new Club world cabin, let’s dive deeper into the story.
British Airways’ new Club world cabin will truly revolutionize the British flag carrier’s business class offering. Currently, the carrier flies a pretty unpopular 2-4-2 business class:
This means that many current Club World seats do not have direct aisle access.
However, all this will change as the new Club Suite cabin features an impressive 1-2-1 configuration.
Every single seat will have direct aisle access. What’s more, the seat is actually a suite, so while the Airbus A350 doesn’t have a first-class cabin, the new suite is sure to give the carrier’s first-class product on older Boeing 777 aircraft a run for its money.
The Club Suite itself has 40 per cent more storage, including a vanity unit and mirror, WiFi, enviable 18.5-inch inflight entertainment screens, high definition gate-to-gate programming, and PC/USB power. In total, there will be 56 Club World seats on BA’s new A350.
The new Club Suite’s won’t just be on British Airways A350’s, the airline will be slowly retrofitting the seat across its entire fleet. British Airways exclusively revealed to Simple Flying the first two Boeing 777’s which will receive the Club Suite in our article here.
Simple Flying
