British Airways fitting additional business class seats in B747s

British Airways wants to offer enhanced flying experience to its customers and presently revamping its Boeing 747 fleet. A total of 18 Boeing 747-400 aircrafts are being refitted with new interiors. However, the revamp process of six aircrafts has already been completed. The interior makeover on the airline’s long-haul Boeing aircrafts is being done on similar lines of its new Airbus A380 aircrafts.

Media reports said that the airline will be fitting each of its four-cabin Boeing 747-400 aircrafts with 16 additional business class seats. With the new additions each aircraft will now have a total of 86 flat beds. The aircrafts will also see the installation of new seats in economy class and premium economy cabins as well. According to reports, new curtains and carpets would be rolled out on the aircrafts. Moreover, every cabin will also be fitted with mood lighting.

The customers would be kept entertained on their long-haul travel with new state-of-the-art Panasonic eX3 in-flight entertainment system being fitted on each aircraft. The IFE system would be offering 400 TV programs and 130 movies, thus totaling above 1,300 hours of content. The customers will be entertained with larger, high-resolution screens. According to the airline, premium economy seats will be featuring both USB ports and power socket, while economy class seats will be equipped with only USB ports.

British Airways said that its sixth revamped Boeing 747 aircraft recently entered service. The airline’s 11th Airbus A380 aircraft and sixth Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner have also been included in the fleet and deployed for operations.The airline will also be taking delivery of its first Airbus A350 aircraft in 2018, from the 18 aircrafts it has ordered.

The airline’s Boeing 747 aircrafts are currently serving various international routes from London Heathrow. These destinations include Boston, Chicago, New York JFK, Riyadh, Dubai, Lagos and Kuwait. The airline will be adding more destinations to be served by Boeing 747 during summer 2016 season.

Troy Warfield, British Airways’ Director of Customer Experience, said, “The investments being made by the airline to refurbish its much loved Boeing 747 aircrafts is being appreciated by the customers and also help British Airways to offer a more relaxing and enjoyable experience in future.”