In mid-2023, British Airways’ CEO announced that the airline planned to update the interiors of its Airbus A380s. The airline has just revealed a variety of investments that it’s making in the customer experience, and as part of this, the timeline for A380 changes has once again been confirmed, so I wanted to go over all the latest information.
In this post:
British Airways A380s getting new first & business class
At the start of the pandemic, British Airways grounded its Airbus A380 fleet, as several airlines did. Fortunately in late 2021, the airline brought back these planes, and all signs point toward the whale jet staying in British Airways’ fleet for years to come.
The catch is that at this point, British Airways’ A380 interiors are quite outdated. British Airways has introduced its new Club Suites business class in recent years, though none of the A380s feature these cabins.
In July 2023, British Airways CEO Sean Doyle revealed some exciting updates regarding the A380:
Hundreds of millions of pounds will be spent refitting BA’s 12 A380 double-decker superjumbos. This is an aircraft so popular with passengers that most airlines make it their flagship — but, under Cruz, it became BA’s most dated jet. It will have a new first class — perhaps on the upper deck for the first time — the popular new business-class Club Suite, also upstairs, and new premium economy and economy cabins.
As you can see, British Airways plans to reconfigure its entire A380 fleet with new cabins. Most significantly, British Airways’ A380s will get the carrier’s Club Suites business class, plus a new first class.
Then in late 2023, during the 2023 Capital Markets Day of IAG (the parent company of British Airways), the airline stated that all Heathrow based long haul aircraft will feature Club Suites by the end of 2026, and that includes the A380s.
Now British Airways has further confirmed that we’ll see the first Airbus A380 reconfigured in late 2025 or early 2026, and that’s the point at which we’ll see Club Suites on these planes, as well as the carrier’s new first class.
It’s not surprising to see how long it’s taking for this project to get started, when you consider that British Airways is just finishing up reconfiguring its Boeing 777s, and the next project is reconfiguring Boeing 787s (and that has been delayed).
With British Airways planning to wrap up its A380 reconfigurations in 2026, we have to assume the airline will be keeping these planes in its fleet well into the 2030s, or else the airline wouldn’t bother spending so much money on these jets.
What can we expect from British Airways’ A380 cabin upgrades?
British Airways currently has one of the most unusual A380 layouts of any airline, as the A380 has business class, premium economy, and economy on the upper deck, and first class, business class, and economy on the lower deck. There’s not another airline that has three different classes of service on each A380 deck. You’d think that’s not terribly efficient, so I’m curious how this could be reconfigured.
I think it goes without saying that the most exciting update to British Airways’ A380s will be the introduction of Club Suites, British Airways’ excellent new business class. This will represent a huge improvement over the current business class.
My guess is that British Airways will consolidate this business class on one deck, probably the upper deck. Admittedly the upper deck is narrower than the lower deck, so this could be a bit of a tight squeeze, but it should be manageable.
We also know that British Airways plans to introduce an all-new first class suite on its A380s, though we don’t have any details beyond that. British Airways’ A380s currently feature spacious but not particularly modern first class suites.
This isn’t British Airways’ most modern first class, as the carrier’s current “new” first class is found on some 777s. This is essentially the old first class suite, but with a door.
So it sounds like the A380 will be where we see a reimagined first class product introduced. This was initially supposed to debut on the Boeing 777X. Those planes were already supposed to be in British Airways’ fleet, but the plane will now enter service in 2025 at the earliest, and that’s optimistic.
I imagine the product that we see introduced on the A380 will also eventually be rolled out on the 777X, once that plane is delivered.
Bottom line
British Airways plans to update its Airbus A380 cabins. That’s exciting in terms of knowing that these planes will be around for years to come. The plan is for all Heathrow-based aircraft to be reconfigured by the end of 2026, with the work starting around late 2025.
We can expect British Airways A380s to get Club Suites, as well as a new first class suite. It remains to be seen how good that new first class suite will be, though it sounds like it’ll be a totally reimagined product, rather than just adding a door to the existing seat.
What are you expecting from British Airways’ A380 retrofits?
Ive seen one of the proposed layouts. Its much more efficient..m lets say the cabins are where they ought to be and also a tiny increase in capacity due to a slightly larger World Traveller cabin config.
More bs from BA. I hate this airline and their monopoly on LHR which they don’t deserve.
I’m sooo glad. I love flying on the A380 for obvious AvGeek reasons (my kids love to watch it take off/land, as do I!), but the seat is almost enough to make me fly AA every time between DFW and LHR.
Aww, but I enjoy being tripped on by passengers going to the bathroom. What airline will I fly to experience that in business class?
(Just kidding, Emirates 777s have me covered.)
I wonder what the original "logic" was to have 3 classes on both decks making it more complicated than any other A380 cabin!?
I wonder if it has to do with galleys. The CW ones are located above each other. The plane is equipped with a trolley lift.
Maybe then BAs first class can reclaim its title as the world's best business class!
Good news. What are the planning for changing the interiors like economy class, business class and first class. Can you please send me the details
Wonder if BA are going to Manila or Cardiff, for the re-fit?
I would expect the Upper Deck to just be first and business, and then lower to be premium econ, and econ, like Emirates have.
I hope not! That mini Economy section at the back of the upper deck is great
All the 747-fans (myself included) are holding back a tear, as they read this.
Can confirm.
It’s nice too see the reintroduction of the centre tray table in Club Europe.
Interesting datapoint - our A380 from IAD to LHR was just swapped out of the schedule for 8 Apr 24. Possibly for the retrofit?
Just please get rid of those cramped, useless, and ugly face to face Biz seats on your A350s and others!!!...
BA A350s never had the face to face seats lol
Delta will retrofit when the last toilet overflows.
It’s nearly 2024! That means the timeline is a refurbishment in 2 years! And “we’re going to have to be patient”? Please point out an airline that does refurbs as consistently and swiftly as BA does. The only one I can think of recently is Finnair and that’s with plenty of unused aircraft sitting around! BA is working every aircraft in service hard!
I think the A380 retrofit is one of BA’s best chances to redeem themselves from the poor reputation they’ve had in recent years. I hope they opt for a fully enclosed suite in first class kind of like what Emirates has on their 777s, something that’s a true step up from their Club Suite. I hope they also take the opportunity to install an onboard bar/lounge or something this time. They’re based in arguably the...
I think the A380 retrofit is one of BA’s best chances to redeem themselves from the poor reputation they’ve had in recent years. I hope they opt for a fully enclosed suite in first class kind of like what Emirates has on their 777s, something that’s a true step up from their Club Suite. I hope they also take the opportunity to install an onboard bar/lounge or something this time. They’re based in arguably the most globally important city and they need a product to match.
Unless something has changed recently I understand there are U.K. regulations in place that do not allow for a product like that - floor to ceiling fully enclosed on a U.K. carrier! So I would manage expectations. Can’t see any significant upgrade from the current product!
@Phillip Is that the reason why there aren’t more airlines with floor to ceiling walls in first class? The only ones I can think of are Emirates and Air France La Premiere. Even the first class suites on Qantas Project Sunrise and Singapore A380 aren’t fully enclosed when IMO they should be.
Mixed blessing. Unless they shrink the overall space of the economy cabin eg place premium where economy started, the huge amount of reward seats available with the current premium options will likely fall.
The current seats are just falling apart. We’ve had at least one seat almost be closed for the flight (out of three) each time we’ve flown the A380 the last year plus. This can’t come fast enough. We take the crappy time slots to avoid the 380, which used to be my favorite on BA.
Don't know why they keep these "FUEL HOGS" around! Better to retire and pick up a fleet of A321LRs to deploy 8x times a day - higher frequency of Operations as opposed to running 1x A380 a day.
In this business, frequency = profit.
Except when you´re based in the most slot restricted airport in the world...
Comedy isn't your strong suit......
BA knows very well that they are based at Heathrow which is a slot restricted airport. So there will be no room for 8 daily A321LRs. The A380s work for BA very well and they have never complained of them being loss making like Air France and others who retired the A380 earlier. BA is happy with their A380 fleet and the retrofit is a testimony that these big planes will fly for BA up to may be the year 2040.
It's not just about slot restrictions, the A321LR doesn't even have the range to reach most airports where BA has historically used the A380 even if they weren't slot restricted at LHR (HKG, SIN, LAX, SFO, JNB, YVR etc.).
XLR, bub.
No different. The only one of those airports the XLR could potentially reach if BA fits few enough seats is YVR.
Good luck geting those extra 7 daily LHR slots you speak of!
Or do you planning on cutting flights to 7 other destinations to implement this ridiculous plan?
Any particular reason you think Club World will be consolidated on the upper deck instead of being split as it is now? Thanks!
this explains part of why the timeline is so long to buy and retrofit new aircraft - multiple airlines are all doing massive cabin retrofits at the same time as huge new orders are being placed. There are only a couple seat manufacturers in the world and they are all booked for years to come.
Add in that cabin retrofits are just part of extending the life of an aircraft - engines usually have...
this explains part of why the timeline is so long to buy and retrofit new aircraft - multiple airlines are all doing massive cabin retrofits at the same time as huge new orders are being placed. There are only a couple seat manufacturers in the world and they are all booked for years to come.
Add in that cabin retrofits are just part of extending the life of an aircraft - engines usually have to be replaced at some point in the life of an airframe but they have to be overhauled more often.
It is good to see older aircraft being kept in service but it highlights how dependent the entire aviation system is on a few key players in each are.
It would be nice if Delta adopted such seats for Delta One transcon flights. Any word about seats on the A330s that are likely to assume transcon routes?
Delta supposedly has premium cabin expansions for its A350s and A330NEOs in the works, is soon to roll out its premium configured A321NEOs which will be used on transcon routes, and is also expected to announce a widebody order which could include the A350-1000 so, yes, Delta has a lot of fleet and cabin stuff in the pipeline.
The first ex-Latam A350s are supposed to be reconfigured to DL standards and could feature the...
Delta supposedly has premium cabin expansions for its A350s and A330NEOs in the works, is soon to roll out its premium configured A321NEOs which will be used on transcon routes, and is also expected to announce a widebody order which could include the A350-1000 so, yes, Delta has a lot of fleet and cabin stuff in the pipeline.
The first ex-Latam A350s are supposed to be reconfigured to DL standards and could feature the new and larger A350 cabin standards as well.
Delta is supposed to have an investor conference in early December so we could hear news on many of those items then.
"and is also expected to announce a widebody order which could include the A350-1000"
Haven't you been saying that for well over a year now? There still doesn't seem to be much concrete indication that they're doing anything beyond kicking the tires of all models, as all airlines do.
We really love the overall experience on Delta's regional routes. But, unless and until Delta does something with its seats on transcon routes, it's a non-starter for us. Circling back to the BA article, cabin fittings do matter to consumers. While I've flown in BA's A380 J a number of times, at this point, I'd avoid it if another choice were available. Lack of WiFi on at least some A380s is another detractor.
Lufthansa probably still won't be done with their rollout by 2026, even though they announced their new cabin products almost 2 years before BA did.
LH is lucky if it STARTS its retrofit by 2026.
Germany’s too good to deserve an airline like Lufthansa at this point. Make Condor its flag carrier instead.
Air Berlin would be a better flag carrier than LH at this point. Sure, they went under more than 6 years ago, and even then their long-haul aircraft had all-direct-aisle-access J seats that LH still largely lacks.
@O2nz Air Berlin was a nice little airline. TXL, though, was one of the worst and most decrepit airports in the world. Quite the contrast.
I quite enjoyed my last flight on the BA A380 from DFW-LHR. I had seat 59E. The middle seat in the last row of the upper deck business class. It's a bit awkward at first with two people that can look at you during taxi, T/O and landing. Once you can raise the privacy dividers, you've got your own little cocoon with direct aisle access to both aisles. I would probably sit there again if I was traveling by alone in the future.