Aeroflot will soon be taking delivery of their first Airbus A350, as the airline has 15 of these planes on order, which they’ll take delivery of between 2020 and 2023.
Over the summer I wrote about how Aeroflot was planning on introducing a new business class product on the A350. They hadn’t formally announced the details, but they had already uploaded the seatmap for their first A350 flights, and it showed a 1-2-1 configuration in business class (different than their existing 2-2-2 configuration on wide body planes).
Well, Henrik at InsideFlyer now shares the details of these new cabins.
In this post:
New Aeroflot A350 Business Class
Aeroflot’s A350-900s will have a total of 28 business class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration, and it’ll be the first plane on which they have direct aisle access from all business class seats. Not only that, but they’ll be offering business class seats with doors.
The bones of the seats look similar to the Delta A350 business class product, which is a modified Vantage XL seat. I do love the Aeroflot cabin finishes.
Aeroflot A350-900 business class
Aeroflot A350-900 business class
Business class will also have a self serve refreshment area.
Aeroflot A350-900 business class bar
New Aeroflot A350 Premium Economy
Premium economy will be in a 2-4-2 configuration, with a total of 24 seats. Ultimately that’s going to be a bit on the tight side since economy only has an extra seat per row, but unfortunately this is the trend that airlines have taken with the A350.
Aeroflot A350-900 premium economy
New Aeroflot A350 Economy
Economy will be in the standard 3-3-3 configuration, and looks decent as well.
Aeroflot A350-900 economy
Aeroflot A350 Routes
As of now, Aeroflot has scheduled the A350 on the following routes, starting next spring:
- New York JFK as of March 29, 2020
- Beijing as of May 1, 2020
- Seoul as of June 1, 2020
- Miami as of June 2, 2020
Of course this remains subject to change, and make sure you check the actual seatmap for the flight you intend to book, because not all flights in these markets will feature the A350.
Bottom Line
I can’t wait to try Aeroflot’s new A350 business class, which looks much better than I was expecting. I reviewed Aeroflot a couple of years back, and was very pleasantly surprised.
I had low expectations flying them from Los Angeles to Moscow on a 777, but found it to be excellent.
Aeroflot’s 777 business class
Furthermore, they offer actual premium seats in business class on regional flights, unlike most other European airlines.
Aeroflot’s 737 business class
What do you make of Aeroflot’s new A350 business class?
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
Do the seats lay flat on the Aeroflot A350-900?
Aeroflot is also currently flying the Airbus A350s to Dubai
Looks like the roll out has changed, my flight from SVO to JFK at the end of may is now showing a 777, previously was the A350-900.
It's 2020, a pity their Premium Economy & Economy are simply "me too" products. No new innovation at all.
BTW, what's the reason why airlines don't add a bit of extra recline for the LAST row of these cattle classes. Aeroflot has Space+ already, so they know how to charge money for the same class. They can easily add 3" recline for the last row and charge $$. 3" is not a lot and...
It's 2020, a pity their Premium Economy & Economy are simply "me too" products. No new innovation at all.
BTW, what's the reason why airlines don't add a bit of extra recline for the LAST row of these cattle classes. Aeroflot has Space+ already, so they know how to charge money for the same class. They can easily add 3" recline for the last row and charge $$. 3" is not a lot and far from lying flat, but it makes a huge difference for lower back pain. My lower back can handle max 6 hours. Paying US$100 is a wiser spend than being in a doctor's clinic.
Hate that ugly orange finishes on those seats.
Also it look extremely claustrophobic.
@Keda, BA do 3 flights a day between London and Moscow, one of them daily 787-9 / 777 for a large part of the year with an F cabin, and Aeroflot operate 4 daily flights, with one being an A330. Its a busy route.
In the short term we might get lucky and see Aeroflot put an A350 on the route for staff training
The technology challenging for better traveling comfort, is only for richer passengers, who are traveling in first to business class. There are no rooms of comfort for economy class, regardless. Most of traveler's in economy class wanted to have a space between windows to isle side. I always prefer using Isle seat for easy excess, regardless to any CLASS.
Aaron, I flew LAX to SVO to VIE in Business, and loved it. Can't beat 1 FA per 4 pax, and their self serve top notch champagne in the SVO lounge was the best I ever had.
For the comment of @WilliamBarr above: As some fine people like Lucky, and even me, actually live in Miami when not in the air, the idea of going to even western Europe with Aeroflot (or Turkish for example) has one special benefit: The flight is actually long enough to get a decent night's sleep in J. But with AFlot's current livery, and a rather hit-and-miss staff, it's not a fun flight... unless as you mentioned...
For the comment of @WilliamBarr above: As some fine people like Lucky, and even me, actually live in Miami when not in the air, the idea of going to even western Europe with Aeroflot (or Turkish for example) has one special benefit: The flight is actually long enough to get a decent night's sleep in J. But with AFlot's current livery, and a rather hit-and-miss staff, it's not a fun flight... unless as you mentioned maybe Rudy and Igor would be along for the laughs!! Also, as astutely mentioned by @BB above, it happened once that I missed an evening connection; and not having a current Russian Visa, a group of us were put in a portable holding cell in our arrival terminal for the night. Without even any vodka!! Dosvidaniya!!!
To those who are asking who will fly Aeroflot:
Aeroflot is for those who commute between Europe and East Asia. In such market which one may have to pay a high premium on direct flights, Aeroflot is always the cheapest option and imho better than ME3 when you are taking 2+10 instead of 6+8
.. and you must keep in mind when you transfer in Russia - your checked baggage will be checked.
For example, "Naama Issachar, 26, was arrested after a reported 10 grams of marijuana were found in her suitcase during a stopover in Moscow on her way to Israel" (note: marijuana is legal in Israel).
Russian court convicted her for drug smuggling to serve seven and a half years in prison.
@Keda - Aeroflot use to fly widebodies to London daily. BA use to roster a 747-400 on the route as well.
Russia is an enemy of the United States of America. I will never fly their airline or visit their country. There are many other countries I do not support and will not visit. I am blessed with so many other great choices.
Looks really good. Only issue is: when misconnecting you cannot leave the airport unless you have a visa (for most nationalities).
I wish they did something like China where you don't need a visa if you only stay for a few days in certain places.
Aeroflot adding A350 service from Moscow to Miami makes perfect sense. With the US 2020 elections looming, there's going to be huge demand on that route from oligarch, gangsters, money launderers and other guests with important business at Mar-a-Lago. Watch for Rudy and Igor riding up front!
Well the product looks indeed stunning. I would say I prefer Aeroflot finishes to the DeltaOne ones (need to see a cabin in reality though). It's a bit surprising to see such nice finishes from Aeroflot as they used to pick very generic and drab colours/fabrics for their cabins.
Aeroflot comes in handy for flights from Europe to Asia and from the US to Eastern Europe, Israel, Dubai, former USSR countries. Sure it's not...
Well the product looks indeed stunning. I would say I prefer Aeroflot finishes to the DeltaOne ones (need to see a cabin in reality though). It's a bit surprising to see such nice finishes from Aeroflot as they used to pick very generic and drab colours/fabrics for their cabins.
Aeroflot comes in handy for flights from Europe to Asia and from the US to Eastern Europe, Israel, Dubai, former USSR countries. Sure it's not that practical to fly from JFK to London via Moscow, but when you need to go from JFK to Baltics, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Israel and so Aeroflot is the best option. Their fares are often decent and you don't stuck in Euro Business on connecting leg.
Like JFK-CDG-TLV, where CDG-TLV is 4.5 hours in Eurobusiness on A320 or JFK-SVO-TLV where SVO-TLV is 4 hours on 777/330 or 320 with proper business and likely significantly cheaper.
@Aaron SVO serves as a good connection point to those going onwards to Eastern Europe. I believe you could get anywhere in Eastern Europe within 3 hours.
As for why people would route via SVO to Asia- same reason why many route through Europe- cheaper fares.
Agree that the finished product looks a step up from D1; definitely a review to which I look forward.
I wonder what the pitch is in premium economy, though. Doesn't look like there's much extra room.
Aeroflot is European airline and Moscow lies in Europe as well. So for many people it could be very convenient to fly from Europe to Asia with Aeroflot. From Central Europe it takes only about 2 hours to Moscow and then another 8 to Beijing or Seoul.
Nice, looks better than Delta's...
@J - very limited/tough to come by, unless you want to spend approximately 4 bajillion DL skypesos... My last few flights with them have just been finding a cheaper fare and booking with Chase points right through their portal. Especially for flights connecting to other Russian cities.
Is that a cupboard next to the screen?
Business looks great - but how do you book using miles?
Nice seats, but would anyone fly them unless they were flying to/from Russia? I can't see people flying them just to connect from the US/Europe/Asia via Russia to another continent when you can just take a direct flight.
As an Aeroflot FFP FLYER I could wait to fly
But yes it flies to Havana as well
I’m not claustrophobic, but I hate sitting in the pods with doors. After 12 hours on ANA in F last summer, I won’t book flights serviced by planes with that configuration.
An inconsequential airline with limited business opportunities. Also, they are not an European airline and most of their short haul routes are actually 3-5 hour long - hence the reason why they have enhanced seats in SH business...
Not true! They are like Turkish, not inconsequential, and filled with infinite business opportunities! Moscow is in fact in EUROPE and Istanbul actually isn't. They actually provide a good business class standards and product on flight under 2 hours too! Inform yourself before commenting!
I’m flying Aeroflot in January. Daytime flight from Jfk to Moscow. I’m crediting mileage to France KLM blue.
All A350s across different airlines appear to have the exact same PEY and Coach seats, with limited exceptions.....
So it's a Delta A350 with more rows in coach.
Aeroflot is great. Would love to fly these. Why is there no long haul award space available? I never see it anymore.
Looking at picture no. 3, boarding with a roll-on will be tight on entering the cabin from door 1, I can see the panel getting bashed a lot. Maybe they plan to board from 2 a lot.
@Ray, it's only a 4 hour flight to London from Moscow,i doubt they'll ever add it for such a short haul flight.
The finishes look fantastic. If only they deployed it to London & BKK. I’d love to give it a shot