BA has confirmed that its order of Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners – the 'super-stretched' version of the original 787-8 – will include the airline's luxe first class cabin, and says it's "very likely" that the Boeing 787-9 jets will be configured likewise.
As with all other Dreamliner customers to date, BA has opted to make business class the top-most cabin on its Boeing 787-8s, which the airline will begin flying on October 1.
Read: BA's Boeing 787 launch routes: Toronto, New York/Newark
But "it's very likely that we’ll have a first class cabin in the 787-9" says Frank van der Post, BA’s Managing Director of Brands and Customer Experience. "It may not be a full cabin of 12 to 14 seats, it will be a little bit smaller."
"But there is an option for us to convert some of the 787-9 orders to 787-10s, and first class makes sense in the -10" van der Post told Australian Business Traveller.
"We have a lot of long distance flights to premium destinations where we need a four-class configuration, and the -10 gets a lot closer to the capacity of the Boeing 747."
British Airways has 24 of Boeing 787 Dreamliners on order to arrive by 2017. The first eight of these are for the 787-8, with the first four being delivered this year and four more in 2014.
"From 2015 we're going to get another 16, these will be 787-9s but we can change some of those to the -10" van der Post said.
BA will roster its first two 787s onto the London-Stockholm route next month, ahead of their debut on October 1 between London and Toronto.
Read: BA confirms Airbus 380, Boeing 787 trial flights to Frankfurt, Stockholm
Inside the British Airways Boeing 787
BA's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner will carry 214 passengers divided into the predictable mix of business, premium economy and economy, with the airline continuing the trend reported by Boeing of dropping first class.
35 Club World business class seats sit at the pointy end in a new 'triple' configuration of 2-3-2, the same as upstairs on the A380. The extra space to the side of centre seats also appears on the A380 upstairs.
That's followed by 25 World Traveller Plus premium economy seats laid out 2-3-2, and 154 World Traveller economy seats split 3-3-3.
David Flynn is attending the launch of British Airways’ Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 in London as a guest of British Airways.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
21 Jul 2012
Total posts 128
Both the A380 and the 787 look spectacular in BA's livery. It really is one of the classiest out there. Some of the US carriers could learn a thing or two from the Brits (** cough AA cough**).
17 Nov 2011
Total posts 27
It is a shame BA are configuring their economy class 3-3-3, unlike the reported JAL configuration, which has window/aisle pairs.
From a passenger comfort perspective, the pairs instead of 3's make a big difference.
Qantas
26 Nov 2012
Total posts 2
Is the economy seat width the same on both the 787 and A380 ? Since the 9 abreast on the 787 is so tight - and the 10 abreast on the A380 so generous - won't customers be able to tell the difference and therefore prefer the A380 ? ( or even 777 )
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