British Airways is celebrating 100 years of flying this year, and given the era we live in, 100 years of sustaining an airline is a huge deal. As a part of their centennial celebrations, British Airways is reliving history by repainting some of its aircraft in British Airways Heritage Livery.
We already saw a Boeing 747-400 (G-BYGC) being unveiled in a stunning BOAC livery last month. British Airways followed it up by revealing a retro BEA livery on an A319 (G-EUPJ). The third Heritage livery was the stunning Landor livery also on a Boeing 747-400 (G-BNLY). The fourth and final livery was a Negus livery also on a Boeing 747-400 (G-CIVB). All these aircraft have already entered scheduled commercial service and will retain the retro livery till their retirement.
Since Jet Airways suspended services, there is a vast void created, especially on international sectors. To mitigate this to some extent, British Airways has added 4x weekly 787-9 service to Mumbai from June 2, 2019.
British Airways, which didn’t operate any Boeing 747-400 services to Delhi, has been deploying the Queen on double daily service to Delhi for some time instead of the 777s. So there are chances that you might catch one of the retro liveries in Delhi.
The heavily delayed early morning departure of this 25yrs old Queen ! @British_Airways @BoeingAirplanes 747-400 G-CIVB in special "Negus retro" Livery lining up for departure at @DelhiAirport
Had to sacrifice sleep at 0430hrs but no regret 😉 #avgeek @Vinamralongani @AvPhotoIn pic.twitter.com/5AUr665WaO
— Dipalay Dey (@dipalay) May 11, 2019
Apart from retro liveries, British Airways confirmed the launch of their new Club World seat back in November 2018 but didn’t share many details. We knew that the new Club World seat would be debuting on the A350-1000 which will be delivered in the summer of 2019.
They started teasing the new Club Suite seat before launch. British Airways officially unveiled the new Club World seat, the Club Suite in March 2019.
British Airways Club Suite will be in a 1-2-1 configuration with direct aisle access. The Club Suite will have a privacy door, putting the airline in the same league as Qatar Airways and Delta. It is a modified B/E Super Diamond seat. The seat will have forty per cent more storage than the current Club World seat.
New British Airways’ Club Suites
The Club Suite will have a vanity unit and mirror, WiFi, 18.5-inch IFE screens, high definition gate-to-gate programming, and PC / USB power outlets. The seat will have a 79″ bed. British Airways have tied up with The White Company for bedding.
Club Suites
British Airways’ A350-1000 will have 56 Club Suites spread over 17 rows. 56 World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) and 219 World Traveller seats (Economy) will take the total seat count to 331 seats on the A350-1000. That’s a premium heavy configuration on the A350-1000.
British Airways’ A350-1000 seat map
While British Airways will initially deploy the A350-1000 on short-haul routes to Madrid for crew familiarisation flights. From October 1, 2019, the A350-1000 will operate BA 93/92 on London Heathrow – Toronto Pearson route, which will be the first long haul route for their new plane type. British Airways also announced that the A350-1000 would fly on London Heathrow – Dubai route from October 9, 2019.
British Airways’ Club Suites
Currently, British Airways deploys a 3-class 777-200 on Bengaluru-London Heathrow route. This will be replaced by a four class 787-9 in the winter schedule. But British Airways is selling the First Class seats as Business class seats on this route.
British Airways selling First class on 787-9 as Business Class
So if you are travelling during that time, you might want to take advantage of a more comfortable seat (1-2-1 vs 2-3-2) at the same price.
British Airways First Class Suite on 787-9
From January 1, 2020, British Airways will operate a daily A350-1000 service to Bengaluru from London Heathrow. This represents a massive upgrade on the Bengaluru-London Heathrow route both in terms of hard product and seat count.
BA119 LHR1345 – 0500(+1 day)BLR 35K D
BA118 BOM0700 – 1240LHR 35K D
It was Air India which offered a more superior product onboard its 3x weekly 787-8 flight as compared to British Airways 777. But this will change from the winter schedule with the 787-9 and the subsequent upgrade to the A350-1000.
From December 1, 2019, British Airways will also operate a daily A350-1000 service to Tel Aviv from London Heathrow replacing the 787 on the route.
BA163 LHR2055 – 0340(+1 day)TLV 35K D
BA162 TLV0615 – 0940LHR 35K D
Bottomline
Bengaluru is receiving a host of A350 flights. Singapore Airlines will debut the new A350-900 with the regional configuration on 10x weekly flights to Bengaluru from May 17, 2019. British Airways will also debut their A350-1000 in India with its new Club Suites from January 1, 2020. Both British Airways and Singapore Airlines A350s represent a huge upgrade in the passenger experience.
Looking forward to flying the new BA 350 from Bangalore to London soon !
no one cares about BOM…..ever
I don’t think you are right in this perception. The reason for this is Mumbai is having most of the premium cabin right from Qatar q suites to the introduction of new Delta one suites on their 777 200 lr aircraft which is coming shortly. Please don’t feel that Mumbai has been ignored.