British Airways rolled out its new First class cabin on a Boeing 777 flight between London and Chicago on February 10, 2010.
The airline has invested £100 million in the new cabin and in classic British style the cabin draws on the nations rich heritage to create an exclusive experience based on classic design and understated luxury.
The design of the new cabin is inspired by premium British brands like Aston Martin and Jaguar. At the heart of its Quink blue and cream design is an enhanced bed – wider with a new ‘intelligent’ mattress and the finest 400-thread Egyptian cotton bed linen.
Each individual suite has its own personal wardrobe, a leather-bound writing desk that converts into a dining table, a new 15” in-flight entertainment screen and a buddy seat to enable customers to dine together. The lighting and electronic blinds can be modified to reflect mood and time of day.
A seat control unit replaces the switches to activate the bed and give the customer precision control over the seat position and pneumatic panels to support the head and lumbar positions.
A new premium service style has been developed for cabin crew to ensure world-class service for customers who can eat, sleep and work whenever they want to.
The new key features include:
- 60 per cent wider bed at the shoulders
- Personal wardrobe
- Personal electronic blinds
- 15 inch in-flight entertainment screen
- USB port, RCA jack and noise-cancelling headsets
- Fully integrated ambient and mood lighting
- Anya Hindmarch wash bag and amenities by D.R. Harris & Co.
- Leather bound writing table
British Airways’ head of customer experience Mark Hassell, explains
“We have contemporised First and created an intimate private jet experience onboard. We have resisted gadgets and gimmicks and focused instead on simplicity and quality. Every feature has been carefully considered and researched to ensure we are giving our customers what they want.”
British Airways was the first commercial airline to introduce a fully flat bed in First class in 1996 and to pioneer fully flat beds in business class in 2000.