BA unveils its brand-new First class
Image courtesy British Airways
The airline’s new First has been carefully designed to provide the feel of a modern luxury hotel, alongside home comforts and thoughtful British touches at 35,000ft. The seat has been curated by expert designers and world-class manufacturers from all corners of Great Britain and Ireland, including London, Glasgow, West Yorkshire, Kilkeel and Dublin.
The new seat is ultra-wide (36.5inches), with a bed length of 79 inches and features a multipurpose ottoman and elegant stowable table, a 32-inch 4K TV screen, adjustable mood lighting including scenes such as ‘relax’, ‘dine’ and ‘cinema’.
The seat can be adjusted with the touch of a button to find the right level of comfort and is located within a cocooned 60-inch curved wall for ultimate privacy, whilst still providing a spacious environment.
For customers travelling together in the centre of the cabin, the divider slides open to create a shared lounge space, and the stowable tables mean customers can enjoy ‘buddy dining’ in the seat with their travel companion.
The elegant curves throughout the cabin take inspiration from British Airways’ Concorde wings, giving a natural flow to the space and creating a welcoming environment. Customers can now simply wheel their luggage into their personal luggage space, making it even easier to settle in before their flight.
Elsewhere, the suite features an ambient light with an eye-catching design that subtly references the airline’s speedmarque and further nods to Concorde. The suite features window blinds, activated by buttons on the internal control panel for all three windows per seat. The soft panelling inside the seat also helps with acoustics and absorbing sound, which adds to the sense of being in a cocooned, private space. Customers can also use the seat’s brand-new ‘do not disturb’ functionality on its wireless control tablet, which notifies crew if they wish to maximise their rest on board.
British Airways’ Chief Customer Officer, Calum Laming, said: “We’re incredibly proud to launch the next era of First that pushes the boundaries of comfort, luxury and modernity, taking into consideration customer preferences and expectations to the finest detail.
“This coupled with our incredible colleagues delivering a world-class service, following the launch of our First Service Specialists scheme, as well as the many benefits of flying First such as First Wing entry, access to our award-winning lounges including our Concorde Room and priority boarding, means we truly believe we offer a winning combination in delivering an extraordinary experience for our customers.”
The airline listened to colleagues and customers to help shape design elements and specific features to suit preferences, such as the carefully placed stowage with useability and purpose in mind. The airline also introduced its fully rectangular bed following customer feedback that replicates all the comforts of a home environment.
The airline also worked closely with manufacturer Collins Aerospace RTX business, to create the First seat, following its involvement in carefully crafting British Airways’ Club Suite and short-haul aircraft seats earlier this year.
British Airways is the only European carrier from the UK to offer a First product across the Atlantic. Customers travelling in First can experience the airline’s most luxurious way to travel, from a stylish seat, exclusive access to lounges, fast-track security, use of the First Wing at Heathrow and service on board.
The airline is continuing to invest in its overall customer experience and has already rolled out over 120 initiatives as part of its £7 billion transformation focus, from brand-new short-haul seats, free Wi-Fi messaging on board to refreshing its lounges across its global network.
British craftsmanship
Tangerine Design Consultancy, London, has been working with globally renowned brands such as Apple, LG and Toyota for over 35 years, innovating to design compelling customer experiences. With studios in London and Seoul, the creative outputs from Tangerine have led to dozens of patents and created game-changing products and services that exceed customers’ expectations. The award-winning agency has worked with British Airways to reimagine its First cabin with customer needs and an extraordinary experience at the centre. They developed the initial concept and worked with British Airways and Collins Aerospace to bring it to life, including colour and material specification.
Collins Aerospace, Kilkeel, Northern Ireland, is a longtime leader in the design and manufacture of aircraft interior solutions and 14-time winner of Crystal Cabin awards, the only international award for excellence in aircraft interior innovation. With proven expertise in engineering, ergonomics and passenger behaviour, Collins Aerospace's seat manufacturing skills helped bring British Airways’ vision of elevated cabin experiences to life. The seat is manufactured in Kilkeel and is the first, first class seat the facility has produced.
Muirhead, Glasgow, has been making fine luxury leather in Scotland for over 180 years. Muirhead leather has graced the seats of the QE2, the Orient Express and Concorde. All Muirhead rawhides are sourced within the UK and Ireland as a natural by-product of the local food and agricultural sectors. Muirhead supplied the high-quality leather for the headrest, seat surround, ottoman and cupboard interiors - the reveal of red leather with cream stitching reflects a bespoke Savile Row suit.
Replin, Hainsworth, Yorkshire, are experts in blending wool and modern fibres, creating fabrics that combine the very best materials with fine craftsmanship, innovation and industry leading techniques – skills passed down through the Hainsworth family for over 230 years. With on-site facilities at their Mill in West Yorkshire, the team of 190 employees carry out quality testing from concept to completion, ensuring a seamless process with absolute attention to detail from initial brief to design, production and delivery. The high-performance fabrics are designed and engineered to enhance the customer experience. They supplied the fabric within the wardrobe and the dark fabric on the lower half of the forward wall.
Amann Group, Lancashire, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality sewing and embroidery threads. Since 1854, Amann has combined innovation and tradition to produce premium products for the textile and fashion industry, footwear and leather sector, automotive industry and aviation. They supplied the thread used for stitching detail on the fabric dress cover, leather upholstery and on the forward and rear 'soft wall bulkheads'.
Trimite Global Coatings, Redditch and Belfast, have been supplying a full range of high-quality products for the decoration and protection of aircraft interiors, for both standard and business-class cabins, for over 30 years. They supplied the powdercoat used on trim details in the suites.
MGR Foamtex, Thame, Oxfordshire, is an advanced upholstery company for almost 40 years. MGR is providing the soft walls in the upper half of the front and rear of the suite.
Botany Weaving, Dublin, founded in 1934, is an expert in delivering beautiful high-performance fabrics for leading brands in aviation and rail transportation. British Airways worked with Botany Weaving to produce the specialist wool carpets in the suite.
