British Airways has selected Collins Aerospace to refurbish the Club World business class on all of its Boeing 777s.
The agreement includes the installation of its new Club Suite seat introduced in 2019, currently in operation on Airbus A350-1000s and Boeing 787-10s. Some of the modified aircraft are already flying and the upgrades are expected to be complete by the end of 2022.
British Airways operates 43 Boeing 777-200ERs and 16 Boeing 777-300ERs. The old business class of these models has an eight-seat-per-row configuration, i.e. 2-4-2.
Old business class (left) / New Club Suite class (right).
The new Club Suites is configured as 1-2-1, and each seat has a door with direct aisle access. This product is an evolution of Collins Aerospace’s inverted spike seat, called «Super Diamond,» which provides British Airways’ international passengers with privacy doors, a spacious seat that converts into a fully flat bed, and an enhanced in-flight entertainment system.
In addition, it will include a «Club Kitchen» section, which is an area with a kitchen, coolers, and built-in storage for snacks, beverages, and other refreshments, allowing passengers the possibility of in-flight self-service.
They will also retrofit the first class of its Boeing 777-300ERs, where it will feature a more personal and spacious cabin.
«When we launched our Club Suite product, it was a big hit among our customers who loved the privacy offered by the new seat. We are focused on deploying this product and other cabin enhancements to ensure we deliver upon our commitment to provide the best British quality, style, and comfort for our customers», said Sajida Ismail, British Airways’ Onboard Product Director.
«The enhanced Club World cabin elevates British Airways’ existing high standards and provides common elements across its entire fleet of aircraft. Our integration engineering team has worked closely with British Airways designers for several years to bring the ultimate in business class comfort, style, and privacy from concept to reality,» said Trevor Skelly, General Manager, Integration Engineering, Collins Aerospace.
Through its Integration and Engineering group, Collins Aerospace has an FAA Organization Designation Authority, which oversees the certification and Supplemental Type Certificate for the upgrade. Manufacturing of the new suite seats is being completed at the company’s Kilkeel, Northern Ireland facility, while the new Club Kitchen was designed at the Everett, Washington facility.
British’s Boeing 777 destinations
The release only mentions Boeing based at London/Heathrow, leaving out the Boeing 777s operating out of Gatwick.
From Heathrow, they operate to Boston (BOS), San Francisco (SFO), Phoenix (PHX), New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Newark (EWR), Las Vegas (LAS), Orlando (MCO) in the US; Vancouver (YVR) and Toronto (YYZ) in Canada; Accra(ACC) in Ghana; Abuja (ABV) and Lagos (LOS) in Nigeria; Bridgetown (BGI) in Barbados; Hewanorra (UVF) in St. Lucia; Bermuda (BDA); Nassau (NAS) in the Bahamas; Johannesburg (ORD) and Cape Town (CPT) in South Africa; Nairobi (NRO) in Kenya; Kuwait (KWI); Riyadh (RUH) in Saudi Arabia; Dubai (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates; Islamabad (ISB) in Pakistan; Hong Kong (HKG), Malé (MLE) in the Maldives; Singapore (SIN) and Tel Aviv (TLV) in Israel.
