How is the British Airways Club Suite roll-out progressing?
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British Airways put out a press release offering an update on the progress of its Club Suite rollout across the fleet. We have used this as the basis for updating this article on the roll-out of the new seat, including a list of routes where it will operate in January 2022.
Club Suite is BA’s new business class seat, first unveiled in 2019 on the brand new A350s. It is a big step up from the now dated yin-yang layout first introduced in 2006. Our full guide to Club Suite is here.
With the worst of the pandemic now behind us, British Airways is once again able to shift its focus to customer experience and, in particular, the on-going roll out of its new(ish) business class seat.
All Boeing 777 will have Club Suite by end of 2022
The original roll out of Club Suite has been understandably delayed by Covid.
In 2019, BA had hoped that the Club Suite refurbishment program on the Boeing 787-8 would have started by now, with the Boeing 777 refurbishment program effectively complete.
That has not happened, for obvious reasons: covid thottled capital expenditure across the airline for the past 18 months and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were supply chain issues as well.
The good news is that British Airways has now announced that it expects the entire Heathrow Boeing 777 fleet to have Club Suite by the end of 2022. That includes the 29 777-200ER aircraft and the 16 larger 777-300ER aircraft which now form the backbone of BA’s long haul fleet. (A further 14 are based at Gatwick and are not expected to be refurbished for some time.)
How many aircraft have Club Suite now?
Here are the latest fleet numbers as of October 2021, courtesy of travel and data analytics expert Cirium and Flyertalk.
British Airways currently has 35 long haul aircraft with the new Club Suite cabin:
- 8 brand new A350s delivered between 2019 and 2021
- 2 brand new 787-10s delivered last year
- 20 777-200ERs that have been refitted
- 5 777-300s (which also feature the new First Suite)
This equates to 36% (35 of 97) total long haul aircraft that currently have Club Suite installed.
2022 will (hopefully) see a lot of more Club Suite-enabled aircraft
The prognosis for 2022 is good, however. In addition to its announcement that the entire Boeing 777 fleet will have Club Suite, which in itself would be just over half the fleet, we can be optimistic about further deliveries:
- three further BA-branded A350s have been spotted at Airbus and are likely to be delivered soon
- five 787-10s could also be delivered next year, if Boeing manages to sort out its fuselage skin problems
The 787-8, 787-9 and A380 refurbishment will likely have to wait a while longer and is unlikely to start until 2023.
Taken together, we might see a total of 53 aircraft fitted with Club Suite at the end of 2022, which would equate to 50% of the British Airways Heathrow long haul fleet. The full Heathrow fleet would total 105 with the above deliveries.
Whether or not British Airways manages to keep to its pre-pandemic target of having the entire fleet outfitted with Club Suite in 2025 is another matter. It wouldn’t be surprising to see this deadline slip although it could still be achievable.
Which routes will have Club Suite in 2022?
The good news is that British Airways is making good use of its Club Suite aircraft.
New York, BA’s most important route, now flies Club Suite exclusively (save for last minute changes), mainly on the Boeing 777.
I have done a bit of digging with the help of Cirium. Here are the routes currently scheduled to fly Club Suite aircraft in January 2022. There are 32 in total, although I may have missed some:
- Abuja (777 most days)
- Antigua (777, rarely)
- Atlanta (daily 787-10, 777)
- Bengaluru (daily A350)
- Bermuda (777, most days)
- Bridgetown Barbados (777, rarely)
- Boston (daily 787-10 or 777)
- Buenos Aires (daily A350)
- Cape Town (daily 777)
- Chicago (daily 787-10, 777)
- Denver (787-10 most days)
- Dallas Forth Worth (daily 787-10)
- Dubai (Daily A350 and 777)
- Grand Cayman (777 most days)
- Johannesburg (daily A350 or 777)
- Kuwait (777, some days)
- Lagos (777 rarely)
- Las Vegas (daily 777)
- Miami (777 most days)
- Mumbai (daily A350)
- Nassau (777 every other day)
- Nairobi (daily 777)
- Newark (787-10 or 777 most days)
- New York JFK (all flights)
- Phoenix (daily 777)
- Providenciales (777, occasionally)
- Riyadh (daily 777)
- Sao Paulo (daily A350)
- Shanghai (A350 every other day)
- St Lucia (777, most days)
- Toronto (777, rarely)
- Vancouver (A350, rarely)
You can find out if your flight has Club Suite by checking the seat map. If the Club cabin is in a 1-2-1 layout like the image below then it is currently scheduled to have Club Suite.
As always, schedules are subject to change and British Airways does not provide compensation if you do not get the expected aircraft. The routes above are simply our best guess of where we can expect Club Suite to be.
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