In 2014 Air France launched their “Best & Beyond” project, which marked the beginning of the airline installing new cabins on their planes, including their new reverse herringbone business class seats, as well as their awesome new first class cabins.
Air France La Premiere first class cabin
In this post:
Air France’s new business class installation progress
Air France sure has taken their time with reconfiguring new planes, though they’re making progress. As it stands:
- All 787-9s were delivered with new reverse herringbone business class seats
- All A350-900s are being delivered with new business class seats, though they chose different seats than on other planes
- A330-200s are in the process of getting new business class seats, though they’re flat beds in a 2-2-2 configuration
- 777s have been progressively getting new business class seats; the first 777 got the new seats about five years ago, and the project is ongoing
- No A380s are getting new business class seats, as the planes are being retired by 2022
New Air France A330-200 business class cabin
Air France’s new high density 777 cabins
Air France has a subfleet of 10 777-300s that they fly to leisure destinations, including in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. Up until now these planes haven’t yet received new cabins (meaning they have angled seats in business class), but that’s finally changing.
In 2020, Air France will be reconfiguring all 10 of their high density 777s, in a project that will cost €120 million.
These redesigned planes will feature 472 seats, including 14 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 430 economy seats.
Air France’s new 777 business class
While Air France has installed reverse herringbone seats on their reconfigured 777s up until now, for the high density 777s the airline will be installing the same business class seats they have on their A350s. These are virtually the same as what you’ll find in United Polaris.
The 14 business class seats will feature direct aisle access, beds that are nearly two meters long, and 18.5″ HD screens.
New Air France high density 777 business class seats
New Air France high density 777 business class seats
By the way, while totally insignificant, avgeeks may notice that the renderings are from the A350, based on the windows and overhead bins. 😉
Air France’s new 777 premium economy class
The high density Air France 777 will feature 28 premium economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. The seats will have 130 degrees of recline, a fixed shell, and 13.3″ HD screens.
New Air France high density 777 premium economy seats
New Air France high density 777 premium economy seats
Air France’s new 777 economy class
Air France’s 430 economy seats on the 777-300 will be in a 3-4-3 configuration, and will feature 118 degrees of recline.
New Air France high density 777 economy seats
New Air France high density 777 economy seats
Air France 777s are getting Wi-Fi as well
These planes will also be getting Wi-Fi, as Air France hopes to have their entire fleet with Wi-Fi by the end of 2020. There will be three passes available:
- A free “Message” pass for all, to send and receive messages during the entire flight
- A “Surf” pass, costing between €8 and €18 to surf the internet
- A “Stream” pass, costing €30 to enjoy high-speed internet access, streaming and downloading, including the “Message” and “Surf” passes
First routes with reconfigured 777s
Starting January 15, 2020, the first reconfigured plane will start flying to Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort de France, and then as of the summer of 2020 reconfigured planes will begin flying to Saint-Denis de la Réunion.
The cabins will then progressively be available on routes to Mauritius, Havana, Cancun, Santa Domingo, and Punta Cana.
Bottom line
While Air France’s new business class installation has gone at a snail’s pace, it seems like the entire fleet should feature Wi-Fi by 2020, and new cabins by 2022 (as the A380s retire).
It’s nice to see even Air France’s high density 777s get new cabins, given that these are among the highest density three cabin 777s in the sky.
I do find the decision to install the A350 business class seat on the high density 777s to be interesting. It’s my understanding that the whole reason Air France installed different business class seats on the A350 was because those planes were supposed to go to Joon, Air France’s low cost carrier, which has since been discontinued.
So while the inconsistency is strange, I guess it’s not surprising that the high density 777s would get similar seats to what you would have otherwise found on Joon.
Personally I find the business class seats on these planes about similarly comfortable to reverse herringbone seats, so it doesn’t bother me one bit.
What do you make of Air France’s new high density 777 cabins?
Is there an update on how many of the planes have been reconfigured with the new seats?
Air France chose to have a completely different product on their A330's because they mainly operate leisure routes and routes to parts of Africa. While there is demand on those routes it's mainly focused on economy so there was no real incentive to introduce a whole new product when there isn't incentive.
It will be interesting to see omhow comfortable the seats are on the refresh. I have only flown economy and PE on AF and without question the Current AF 777 economy seats are the worst I have flown on any airline. The thigh support is short and slopes forward. Torture on a long haul flight. Next flight is in la premier in July from SFO to CDG (looks like AF will no longer send the...
It will be interesting to see omhow comfortable the seats are on the refresh. I have only flown economy and PE on AF and without question the Current AF 777 economy seats are the worst I have flown on any airline. The thigh support is short and slopes forward. Torture on a long haul flight. Next flight is in la premier in July from SFO to CDG (looks like AF will no longer send the A380 to SFO in the summer as they had due to the impending retirement). I’m eager to see if I’ll get the refresh or current business class, but regardless looking forward to the dining experience and service. There’s just something about AF and the aire of sophistication when flying them.
Over 400 in the back sounds ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE SARDINES COME TO MIND...NUTS AND ONLY 14 BIZ seats crazy,,,,,hope i never have to see this personally.
The A330-200 business class seat you show seems to be akin to the old Continental 2x2x2 business class which is okay but has little to no storage. The 777 by contrast has the side table and a cabinet to put things in which seems preferable. Am I mistaken? I mean any airline that is putting in "new" seats (A330 one unless I am mistaken in what the picture appears to show) without all aisle access...
The A330-200 business class seat you show seems to be akin to the old Continental 2x2x2 business class which is okay but has little to no storage. The 777 by contrast has the side table and a cabinet to put things in which seems preferable. Am I mistaken? I mean any airline that is putting in "new" seats (A330 one unless I am mistaken in what the picture appears to show) without all aisle access seems destined for failure.
I still dream of one day trying La Premiere but otherwise will say non merci to Air France.
Let us know when they figure out a way to stop losing business class luggage -- or at least some way to tell you where it is. Maybe then I'll fly AF again. No matter how nice they make the business class cabin, it makes a miserable trip when they lose your luggage.
well its a 32 inch standard economy pitch right now they could find a few spare inch's maybe drop half an inch per seat and there you have a new row added.
Air France's CEO should be severely fined and removed for retiring large aircraft and using twin engines.
It makes sense for high density economy since the destinations the plane will be flying is not business destination instead leisure or vacation destinations and people travel as family in those destinations, they dont have that much premium cabin demand for those routes since vacation is always budget conscious for most folks so economy class they can have more revenue
What I find shocking is the ability to add more seats in economy using the same space.
I can't see how this density can pass the evacuation constraints in real emergency not certification charades.
I guess AF isn't worried about seat consistency across it's fleet.
Lucky:
I did not see any mention of seat pitch of the PE and Y seats in your post. Any idea what it's going to be, as it's a major factor in how many seats you can cram into the cabin
It’s nice to see recliners being replaced by flat beds, though I must say that this is my second least favorite all-aisle access seat, better only than conventional herringbones. Their footwells are quite restrained and half the seats have no privacy at all. Flew them on TAP A339 and arrived with some bruises on my shins, from moving around during sleep. Maybe it will be better in a 777, with its wider cabin, but I...
It’s nice to see recliners being replaced by flat beds, though I must say that this is my second least favorite all-aisle access seat, better only than conventional herringbones. Their footwells are quite restrained and half the seats have no privacy at all. Flew them on TAP A339 and arrived with some bruises on my shins, from moving around during sleep. Maybe it will be better in a 777, with its wider cabin, but I don’t think that they are in the same league as reverse herringbones.
A330-200s with 2-2-2 seating in Business Class is a loser, not “similarly comfortable” to reverse herringbone on other A330-200s, like AAs or DLs with a 1-2-1 configuration.
Air Canada has been cramming 450 people into a 777 with just six bathroom for years.
Wait, 118 degrees of recline in economy? Did you mean 18?
That economy cabin (which is where 90+% of the passengers will be stuck) looks like torture! Truly awful; you're packed in like sardines. And to be packed in like that for 9-10 hours? It should be illegal under the Geneva Convention!
Hard pass on this.
Did AF shrink the overall size of their new business seats, it appears so. Next flight SEA to CDG in the spring looking forward to seeing the new biz
Why oh why did they not use the same PE seats as installed on the A350, they are much more comfortable compared to this shell ones.
Air Canada has similarly configured 773s that they fly to leisure destinations. I agree that the bathroom situation is hands down the worst part of these aircraft.
AF economy 777 was already tight as f***. Gave up 2 hours in an indicated i would be willing to pay anything to get out of that seat.
On their current version of this, there's already 422 economy seats. It's not increasing by that much.
AF to Bangkok also suffers the awful old recliner seats so am happy to hear this news!
Scratch that, this config has 1 *more* seat than a Singapore A380
This has to be the new densest internationally-flying (so Japan excluded) 777-300, with only 1 fewer seat than a Singapore Airlines A380!
With this level of density, do they have additional restrooms? I feel like the aisles would be absolutely filled with people queuing after meal service.
The Polaris-style seats are nicer for families, since there is there option of sitting right next to each other in the honeymoon seats. Whereas if you're traveling with a child in the reverse herringbone seats, there's no way to be close enough to help them.
Maybe this is part of the reason to use them on leisure routes?
Or maybe it was simply about availability of the seats from the manufacturer, or cost.
@Lucky - Do you know what these extraordinarily high number of seats come at the expense of? What do you think will be lacking in this 777 vs a typical one besides La Premiere?
@ Sarthak -- It comes down to the very small premium cabins. Business class and premium economy will be between doors one and two, meaning there will then be three massive economy cabins behind that.
472 seats in 77W? AirAsia, Cebu level crazy.
430 seats in economy sound horrible
more seats then other airlines have on an entire A380