British Airways has released the first pictures of its newly-revamped cabins onboard its B777 fleet, which flies from Gatwick, with an extra seat squeezed into World Traveller (Economy) to bring the number of seats in a row up to 10 in a 3-4-3 configuration. This means that each individual space in Economy is nearly 10 per cent (or 1.5 inches) smaller.
The new World Traveller Plus and World Traveller cabins feature stylish new seats with 50% larger entertainment screens.
The airline says that the new seats have been developed with great attention to how passengers use their seat. Therefore, the World Traveller Plus seat design features a new leg and footrest, as well as an improved fully adjustable six-way headrest to suit customers of all heights. The new seat also has a cocktail table at the front and in-arm tray tables.
Additionally, the size of the World Traveller Plus cabin in the three-class 777s will more than double in size.
The World Traveller cabins have also been fitted with enhanced seating, which features a six-way headrest with adjustable ears and movable middle armrests.
The new in-flight Panasonic entertainment system on the B777s has the capacity to offer four times as many films, TV and audio, and has been updated with larger HD screens and gesture control to navigate the interface like using a tablet.
The screen size doubles from six to 12 inches in World Traveller Plus, and increases from six to 10 inches in World Traveller. New USB sockets are also available at every seat, while World Traveller Plus seats have an additional power outlet socket for UK, US and EU plugs.
Lastly, bespoke lighting, that can be set to reflect the time of day, has been fitted in every cabin to help to lull travellers to sleep at night and wake them in the morning and lessen the negative effects of jetlag.
In total, the cabins will roll out across the airline’s fleet of 10 long-haul aircraft based at Gatwick. Six three-class Boeing 777 aircraft will be completed by winter 2018, while three four-class variations are expected to be completed by summer 2019.
The first routes to enjoy the fully refreshed aircraft will be Punta Cana, Cancun and Kingston, Jamaica, before it is gradually rolled out across all of British Airways’ 22 long-haul routes from Gatwick.
