British Airways reveals new A380 superjumbo first class seat design

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Traveling in a premium cabin on an Airbus A380 — AKA the world’s largest passenger aircraft, known for its low noise levels and super-spacious feel — is usually guaranteed to be a swanky affair.

This luxury is set to be taken to new heights on British Airways superjumbos, as the airline just unveiled a fresh design for its first class airplane seat, set to launch on BA’s A380 planes in 2026.

The design indicates a continued turnaround in fortunes for the world’s largest passenger plane, which many carriers were looking to permanently phase out a couple of years ago, citing changing aviation markets.

CNN Travel was among the first to try out British Airways’ new cabin product during an unveiling at the airline’s London headquarters.

Super-wide seat

The first thing prospective British Airways travelers will be struck by is the new product’s spaciousness — this seat is super-wide (36.5 inches) and extends into a lie-flat bed that spans a full 79 inches (2 meters) in length.

Sitting on the seat feels more akin to lounging on an armchair or a small sofa (while it is designed for one passenger, it comfortably fits two people) and is significantly bigger than the current British Airways first class A380 seat, which is 22 inches wide.

There are also varied storage options — from an individual external wardrobe big enough to fit a small suitcase, to several internal compartments. British Airways suggests the wardrobe eliminates the need for overhead storage, which (perhaps controversially) won’t be a component of these new first class cabins.

A sliding door creates a suite-like feel and ensures privacy, a feeling also enhanced by a “do not disturb” button which travelers can switch on to notify crew they’re resting. The new seat design also allows crew to adjust passengers’ seats from the outside, meaning there’s no need for flight attendants to awkwardly reach over travelers mid-flight.

Calum Laming, BA’s chief customer officer, told CNN Travel at the unveiling event that the design’s been in the works for some years — with cabin crew, frequent flyers and engineers all weighing in with input and ideas.

“We involved everyone in the design process,” Laming said, adding that the flight attendants’ perspective is “incredibly insightful, because they work in this space everyday” while “customers who fly with us, they know what they want.”

The larger seats are designed for a 12-seat cabin configuration, replacing the current 14-seat A380 BA first class layout. British Airways suggests the curved walls of the design evoke the streamlined design of Concorde, although these new seats are far bigger than anything ever installed in the famous supersonic jet.

Each first class seat also features a 32-inch 4K inflight personal entertainment screen and adjustable mood lighting, including a “cinema” mode.

The seats also allow for what Laming calls a “buddy dining” situation, with one traveler sitting on the seat and one sitting on the ottoman at the end of the suite.

And if you’re sitting in the two seats in the center of the cabin with a friend, partner or family member, you can lift the seat divider to create a communal shared lounging or sleeping space.

The result is “you feel like you have this whole space for yourself — a lounge area or a double bedroom,” as Laming puts it.

Future of first class

British Airways’ announcement comes as some airlines, including American Airlines and United Airlines, are choosing to cut back on their first class offerings, focusing on business cabins instead.

When questioned on why BA is bucking the trend by investing in its most premium product, Laming said first class remains “incredibly important” for the UK flagship airline.

“There’s a market — both in terms of business travel and there’s also a very high end, premium leisure travel market,” he said. “There is a large portion of customers who want that privacy, want that high-end luxury, and we’re very proud to offer it, and it remains a very important part of our network.”

BA’s new design is not quite on the level of Singapore Airlines’ private A380 suites — nor is it offering the same level of luxury as something like Emirates and Etihad’s first class on board shower facilities — but it’s a big change for British Airways.

The airline is also conscious that travelers are paying not just for the seat but the “experience on board,” as Laming put it. With that in mind, British Airways recently introduced first class specialist coaching for cabin crew which Laming described as “uber training,” enhancing the skills flight attendants already hone elsewhere on the aircraft.

The first BA A380 aircraft to introduce the new seat will go into retrofitting at the end of 2025 and is set to start flying in the first quarter of 2026, with the rest of the fleet upgrade to follow.

British Airways has yet to confirm which route will be the first to trial the seat, but destinations that currently fly A380 include Johannesburg, Miami, Singapore, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, so these BA routes are all likely contenders.

CNN’s Tamara Hardingham-Gill contributed to this story

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