Which LATAM Planes Have New Business Class?

In 2018, South American mega-airline LATAM announced it would spend $400 million updating the interiors of its fleet. To me the most exciting aspect of this was the introduction of a new business class product, given that the carrier’s offering has historically been pretty lackluster.

It has now been six years since LATAM announced its cabin retrofit project, so I wanted to take an updated look at how the airline is doing with this, especially since a lot has changed since then — LATAM has gone through bankruptcy, LATAM has retired all of its Airbus A350s, etc.

LATAM’s new business class seats

LATAM’s new business class product consists of Vantage XL seats, similar to what you’ll find on many other airlines, including RwandAir, Qantas, and SAS, among others. These are fully flat staggered seats with direct aisle access and 18″ personal televisions, so it represents a huge improvement to the passenger experience.

I had the chance to fly LATAM’s new business class from Lima to Miami in 2022, and you read my review here.

Below is a video giving a tour of the cabin of these new jets.

When the project was first announced, LATAM did an amazing job with the pace at which it reconfigured planes. How’s that project looking at this point, given all that has changed in recent years? Let’s look at where things stand by aircraft type.

Which LATAM planes have new business class seats?

LATAM’s long haul fleet consists of Boeing 767s, Boeing 777s, and Boeing 787s. Since LATAM is an airline with several bases, these fleets are split up between airlines, with the two biggest bases being in Brazil and Chile. There’s an exciting, as two of LATAM’s three long haul aircraft types now exclusively feature the new business class product. Let’s look at all the details.

All LATAM Boeing 777s have new business class seats

LATAM has 10 Boeing 777-300ERs, all of which are based in Brazil. Fortunately all 10 of these planes feature the new business class product. That’s fantastic news, since these were also the planes most in need of a refresh — they previously had angled seats in business class.

LATAM’s reconfigured Boeing 777-300ERs feature 38 business class seats, spread across 10 rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. The only bad news is that LATAM has seen a huge reduction in premium seats when reconfiguring these planes — they used to have 56 business class seats, but now have 38 business class seats.

All LATAM Boeing 767s have new business class seats

LATAM now has nine Boeing 767-300s, all of which are based in Peru. All of these planes feature the new business class product. LATAM’s reconfigured Boeing 767s have a total of 20 business class seats, spread across five rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.

Up until last year, LATAM Brazil flew 767s that weren’t reconfigured. However, these planes have been retired from passenger service, and were converted into freighter jets. So if you fly a LATAM 767, you’re guaranteed the new business class product (unless you’re cargo, in which case…).

Some LATAM Boeing 787s have new business class seats

LATAM has a total of 33 active Boeing 787s (plus several more that are parked), including the following:

• There are eight Boeing 787-8s, flying for LATAM Chile
• There are 25 Boeing 787-9s, flying for LATAM Brazil and LATAM Chile

The bad news is that LATAM Boeing 787s delivered before late 2019 don’t feature the new business class product, and there are no plans to retrofit the new business class on these jets. Since all Boeing 787-8s were delivered before 2019, none of those planes feature the new business class.

Meanwhile the 12 Boeing 787-9s with the following registration codes feature the new business class:

• CC-BGP
• CC-BGQ
• CC-BGR
• CC-BGS
• CC-BGT
• CC-BGU
• CC-BGV
• CC-BGW
• CC-BGZ
• CC-BGY
• CC-BMA
• PS-LAA

As you can see, you have a nearly 50% chance of getting the new business class on the 787-9, while you don’t have a chance of getting the new business class on the 787-8. LATAM’s reconfigured Boeing 787-9s have a total of 30 business class seats, spread across eight rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.

In the past couple of years we’ve seen a big increase in the number of 787-9s with the new business class, and that’s because LATAM has grown its 787-9 fleet by acquiring aircraft that used to fly for Norwegian. Those planes have been reconfigured as they’ve joined LATAM’s fleet, and that includes the new business class. There are more of these joining LATAM’s fleet, so the percentage of planes with the new business class should increase even more.

Bottom line

LATAM announced its new business class product back in 2018. The airline initially made great progress with rolling out this product, though not surprisingly, the pandemic slowed things down a bit.

Fortunately the airline is in a pretty good spot at this point. All LATAM Boeing 777s and LATAM Boeing 767s feature the new business class. Meanwhile only some of the LATAM Boeing 787s feature the new business class, though the percent of planes with these cabins continues to grow.

Hopefully this is a useful update for anyone who has long haul travel planned on LATAM.

If you’ve flown LATAM’s new business class, what was your experience like?