Air Canada had its investor day conference today. While the company didn’t explicitly address its new business class, a couple of hints were dropped, and I feel like I can now at least speculate as to what the new product could be (and again, it’s purely speculation).
In this post:
Air Canada plans new 777 & 787 business class
For some time, Air Canada executives have been hinting that the airline would introduce a new business class product. Almost no details have been made available, but the expectation is that some number of existing Boeing 777s and 787s will eventually get new seats, in addition to newly delivered aircraft.
I have no inside knowledge here, but keep in mind that Air Canada has 18 Boeing 787-10s on order, which are supposed to be delivered starting in 2026. My expectation that these would be delivered with new cabins.
Air Canada has a solid long haul business class (marketed as Signature Class), which consists of Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats, in a reverse herringbone configuration.
While it’s still a competitive product, there’s no denying that business class products have evolved a bit in recent years, especially when it comes to privacy and tech. So if an airline is going to take delivery of new jets in the coming years, it’s logical that they’d feature an updated product.
I should also mention that Air Canada has 30 Airbus A321XLRs on order, which is a new long range, narrow body aircraft. Of course those planes will also have different business class seats given the constraints of narrow body jets. I suspect those will either be herringbone (like on JetBlue) or reverse herringbone (like on ITA Airways).
My guess about Air Canada’s new business class
In its investor presentation, Air Canada didn’t explicitly reference a new business class product. However, the airline did emphasize an increase in premium seating with its upcoming Boeing 787-10s.
The airline shared pictures of both the 787-9 and 787-10 seat maps, noting that the 787-10 will have 40% more business class seats, 33% more premium economy seats, 117% more extra legroom economy seats, and 11% more capacity overall.
Now, you might not assume that the seat map would reflect Air Canada’s new business class, but if you zoom in, there’s a noteworthy detail. You’ll see that the front row of business class on the 787-10 shows a huge amount of extra space, which isn’t depicted with the 787-9.
I would guess that’s not an error, and that this is quite deliberate (Air Canada is an airline full of aviation geeks, and they certainly wouldn’t get a detail like that wrong). So while we’ll see how this plays out, that suggests to me that Air Canada is planning a “business class plus,” as we’re seeing on an increasing number of airlines.
The idea is that airlines take advantage of the extra space at a bulkhead to offer a special product that they can sell at an extra cost.
The seat map also suggests that Air Canada will maintain reverse herringbone seats, which honestly wouldn’t surprise me, and makes perfect sense. Air Canada has offered reverse herringbone seats on long haul flights for a long time, and is a fan of the product. So it makes sense that the updated business class would follow a similar pattern.
This suggests that Air Canada may be choosing one of several products:
- There’s the same Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat that Air Canada currently has, but with a door and updated tech, like you’ll find in Etihad’s A350-1000 business class
- The latest and greatest reverse herringbone seat is the Collins Aerospace Elements seat, which you’ll find on Starlux’s A350-900
- The Safran Versa seat is another option, and in particular, would make the “business class plus” product easy, as this is what you’ll find on Air France’s 777-300ERs
- The STELIA Opera seat is another option, and would also make the extra space at the bulkhead easy, as this is what you’ll find on Air France’s A350-900s
Since Air Canada currently works with Collins Aerospace, it would make sense that this partnership will continue with the new seats. With that in mind, I’d guess that the airline will either select an updated Super Diamond seat, or the Elements seat.
Now, I am curious to what extent Super Diamond seats can be retrofitted. Would it be more cost effective for Air Canada to select the Super Diamond seat and then add a door and improve the tech, or at that point, is it as expensive as just introducing a new seat altogether?
Bottom line
We know that Air Canada is planning a new business class product, but the airline hasn’t yet revealed much about what to expect. The airline has just dropped its biggest hint yet, by revealing the seat map for the upcoming 787-10.
This suggests to me that Air Canada will have a special business class product in the first row of the cabin, and will also maintain reverse herringbone seats. My best guess is that Air Canada may introduce either an updated Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat, or otherwise, will select the Collins Aerospace Elements seat.
What are you expecting from Air Canada’s new business class?
They still haven't fixed their issues with thr constantly deflating current seats.
And as someone already mentioned, soft product blows in the air and especially on the ground with endless delays (hello 50% OTP)
Avoid like the plague is right.
hard product is fine with AC, its the soft product that blows. I'm based in YUL and avoid AC like the plague. Flew them to LHR a few weeks ago and its just crappy service. LX/LH/OS for me.
Page 97 of the investor presentation shows the A321XLR Business Class seat.
It’s a Herringbone set up.
One thing I can appreciate about them is they have a consistent hard-product thought their widebody fleet. Very few carriers offer that same kind of consistency. The only ones I can think of would be Qantas, DL, Finnair. CX (at least on their long-haul fleet). BA is getting there once their retrofits are complete.
I'm not sure I would call Delta's fleet consistent. The previous generation A330s, and 763s have different and far inferior seats from the 764s, 33Ns, and DeltaOne A350s, not to mention the inferior ex-LATAM A350s.
I would argue UA’s hard product is more consistent than DL’s. Aside from some 772s that don’t operate long haul international flights, don’t all their wide bodies have proper Polaris seats now?
You're correct, and I agree that UA is much more consistent that DL. The "HD" 772s that mainly fly to Hawaii and some domestic hub-to-hub routes use the old IPTE 2-4-2 layout. I've heard that those will operate some int'l flights but mainly as late equipment swaps.
Meanwhile, DL has 4 versions of staggered seats (763, 764, 339, and 359), the ex-LATAM 2-2-2 seats, and the A330-200/300 reverse herringbone seat.
On slide 97 of the presentation, Air Canada had a snippet of their A321XLR business class product. Looks like they will be using the same herringbone seats as American on their A321XLR (Collins Aurora).