British Airways evolution: the 5 new features from A320 cabins to lounges
A £7 billion transformation plan for British Airways, which last week unveiled in London [...]
British Airways
A £7 billion transformation plan to British Airways, which last week unveiled in London a series of new features that will affect the carrier's all-round offering.
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From Economy's new chairs to digital products to the upcoming opening lounges: BA's investment focuses on five major innovations that will begin to be introduced as early as during the course of this year.
"I have been leading the airline for three years now, and my rebuilding effort has not been without challenges coming both from within ourselves and from the air transport system in general," said British's ceo, Sean Doyle - This investment plan is the biggest renewal in our history."
New chairs for the short haul
The biggest news concerns the booths of Economy and Short Range Business which will be fitted with new seats. The operation includes a revamped look for the upcoming aircraft-the A320neo and A321neo-which usually fly within the United Kingdom and to Europe and North Africa.
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The first eight planes with the new cabins will be delivered starting in May this year, affecting both Club Europe (the Business) and Euro Traveller (Economy).
It returns, for example, the dividing tray between the two window and aisle side seats for Club Europe, which will now also be leather-lined, as pictured below.
Club Europe, in fact, always includes the vacant seat next to ours. All seats, beyond the class of service, will have a new look and be equipped with both USB-A and USB-C charging ports. The airline also plans much larger hat racks than the current ones.
Unfortunately, however, BA has no retrofitting plans for the 120 or so aircraft of the same family that are already in the fleet.
New First arrives on A380s
But important developments have also been announced for long-haul. British, in fact, confirmed the start of planning for a new First Class, a true first class suite that should compete with those more emblazoned around for the world.
It is scheduled to enter service in late 2025 or early 2026 and will also be part of a broader cabin renovation of the A380s in the fleet.
The changes, British reports, "will widen the quality groove on board between the Business Club Suite class product and First's offering."
Upcoming lounges
To better compete on the global stage, BA is also modernizing lounges at its London Heathrow hub (Terminals 3 and 5), in Seattle, Lagos (Nigeria), and Edinburgh. Alongside these renovations, however, there are also some real innovations: starting with the lounge that Will open in 2025 at Dubai airport..
The VIP lounge in the Emirates will be the first in a new design concept that will mark all upcoming openings and follows in the vein of the three "premium" lounges inaugurated (and shared with American Airlines) in 2022 at Terminal 8 of New York JFK Airport .
After Dubai, in fact, there will always be in 2025 a new opening to the Miami International. At the same time, BA announced the return in October of flights from London Gatwick to Bangkok and from November 2024 the route from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur.
A flute of Laurant Perrier Grand Siecle in British Airways' Concorde Room.
New app and website
A good portion of the £7 billion investment, finally, will be focused on improving the digital experience with respect to passengers. Often, in fact, British's app and sil website have been blamed by customers for numerous bugs, inefficiencies, and problems even at the booking stage.
By the end of the year, then, will come a new app and a complete redesign of the website. British's goal is to simplify the customer shopping experience and increase the opportunity to change reservations and services through digital products, without having to resort to the "troublesome" call center.
On-board connectivity and artificial intelligence
Along with web and app innovations, BA is also improving its onboard connectivity proposition. As of April 3, members of the loyalty program Executive Club will be able to use messaging apps for free via onboard Wi-Fi.
Applications such as WhatsApp, iMessage, Microsoft Teams, and Facebook Messenger are all included in the service, but free is provided only for text messages.
Finally, the airline announced a major 100 million pound investment in AI and machine learning.
The goal is to promote improvements in all stages of the travel process from booking to baggage handling.
