Earlier in the year, I blogged about British Airways’ plans to overhaul their first class experience. Already an industry leader, BA has invested £100 million to improve their first class product onboard and enhance the premium ground services available to passengers before and after each flight.
The new suite is finished and looks great. While BA did not choose to go with a Swiss/Singapore/Emirates-style enclosed suite, the first class suite looks comfortable and (as apparently was the aim) simplistically elegant.
As the aim for the cabin design was to avoid ostentatious gadgets and gimmicks and rather focus on delivering an experience based on simplicity and quality, the project’s guiding principle became ‘premium simplicity’.
I don’t mind ostentatious gadgets and gimmicks, but I do like a sleek design and BA has achieved it with thier new 14-seat first class cabins that will eventually be featured on all 747 and four-cabin 777 aircraft. (Plus, more seats theoretically mean more awards).
Here are some more unique features of the new BA First:
- Unique personal windows, incorporating the first electronic blinds onboard a commercial aircraft that span two windows
- Seats that are 60% wider at the shoulder [than the previous BA F seat]
- Your own wardrobe
- A distinctive lighting system, designed to recreate the subtlety of natural light throughout the day to help you feel at home when working, dining or simply relaxing.
Take a look at the design-process, pictures, and sketches here.
photo courtesy: British Airways
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