British Airways Announces New First Class Cabin

As of February 10^th, following a £100 million investment, British Airways’ new “First” class cabin has launched. This new cabin, which does include a personal wardrobe, a bed and personal electronic blinds, has been installed on a Boeing 777, which flies from London to Chicago.

This news comes just a few days after British Airways shocked the market by posting its first operating profit in more than a year. However, their airline says that it still expects to rack up the heaviest annual losses since 1987. It also comes just as the chief executive of British Airways, Willie Walsh, revealed that the airline might drop its business class on a number of short haul services in its battle to stem record losses.

Willie Walsh went on to say that the cuts in business travel expenditures have made it unsustainable to fly executives in slightly larger seats for only one or two hours. Thus, it has become necessary to cut business class seats on some, not all, short haul flights.

British Airways’ head of customer experiences, Mark Hassell, said that they have made First and created an intimate private jet experience on board. He said that they have resisted gadgets and gimmicks and focused instead on simplicity and quality. Every feature in First has been carefully considered and researched to ensure that they are giving their customers what they want.

Each of the individual suites does come with things like a personal wardrobe, a leather bound writing desk that converts into a dinning table, and a new 15″ in-flight entertainment screen. The suites also have a buddy seat, which enables flyers to dine together.