Royal Jordanian is currently undergoing a major expansion, and is also investing a lot in its new passenger experience. This includes the introduction of a new long haul business class seat. Up until now, we’ve only been able to speculate as to what product the airline will introduce.
The wait is finally over — the first picture of the Amman-based oneworld carrier’s new business class seat has just been revealed, and it looks great!
In this post:
Royal Jordanian’s new reverse herringbone business class
Royal Jordanian’s wide body fleet currently consists of seven Boeing 787-8s. On top of that, the airline has six Boeing 787-9s on order, which will essentially double the carrier’s long haul capacity. This is only one aspect of the carrier’s fleet renewal plan, as the airline is also acquiring new jets from Airbus and Embraer.
Royal Jordanian’s 787-8 passenger experience is pretty lackluster. The airline doesn’t have Wi-Fi on these aircraft, and on top of that, business class consists of Collins Aerospace Diamond seats, in a 2-2-2 configuration. Given some of the long missions the airline flies, that’s not exactly a cutting edge product.
Fortunately all of this is expected to change. Not only will Royal Jordanian introduce a new passenger experience on its newly delivered 787-9s, but the plan is to then bring the 787-8s up to the same standard, through a retrofit program.
The new 787-9s are expected to enter service in early 2026, and up until now, all we’ve known is what the seat map would look like for these new planes. We know the 787-9s will feature a total of 309 seats, including 31 business class seats and 278 economy class seats.
Based on the 1-2-1 layout, I previously speculated that the airline would introduce reverse herringbone seats, and that has now been confirmed, and the first photo of the cabin has been revealed. It wasn’t released by the airline, but instead, by Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW), as part of Royal Jordanian’s announcement of adding service to the airport (which ironically won’t be on the 787-9, and won’t feature the product shown).
This looks like the Collins Aerospace Elements product
So far we only have the seat map, plus the one picture above. So, which product is this, exactly? Obviously it’s a reverse herringbone product, and presumably it’s from Collins Aerospace (which has supplied Royal Jordanian’s premium seats in the past).
This looks to me like the Collins Aerospace Elements product, which is the seating manufacturer’s latest and greatest reverse herringbone seat. This would be the same product you’ll find in Starlux’s A350 business class. The reason I say this is because the way the seat shell curves matches what you’ll find in that product (unless I’m looking at it wrong).
This doesn’t look to me like the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat, which is the previous generation reverse herringbone seat from the manufacturer, like you’ll find in Etihad’s A350 business class. That’s because the shell of those seats is a bit boxier.
So yeah, if I’m interpreting this all correctly, this seems to me like the best case scenario in terms of the business class product we could’ve expected from the airline.
Bottom line
Royal Jordanian is planning a major modernization. The airline is taking delivery of lots of new planes, including Boeing 787-9s. We can expect the airline to introduce a new business class product throughout its Dreamliner fleet.
While the airline still hasn’t officially revealed all that much about the new passenger experience, the first picture of the new business class has just been released, and it suggests that we’ll see a reverse herringbone product. More specifically, I believe Royal Jordanian selected the Collins Aerospace Elements product, which is as good as it gets. I’ll of course report back when we learn more.
What do you make of Royal Jordanian’s new 787 business class?
Having flown RJ before, I have a low opinion of RJ based only on my own personal experience.
1) The overall cabin service was poor, travelling on business, I expect good service; The cabin crew simply threw out food after takeoff and couldn't wait to clear the plates and didn't even bother serving drinks with the meal! Then the rest of the flight hid away at the service area.
2) The lounge in...
Having flown RJ before, I have a low opinion of RJ based only on my own personal experience.
1) The overall cabin service was poor, travelling on business, I expect good service; The cabin crew simply threw out food after takeoff and couldn't wait to clear the plates and didn't even bother serving drinks with the meal! Then the rest of the flight hid away at the service area.
2) The lounge in Amman is large but very disjointed. The quality of the food is average at best, and the staff there always seem busy on their phones watching videos.
3) The food on long haul I found to taste bland and boring, compared with Qatar, for example.
As a long-term expat in the ME who have taken a RJ Biz class at a numerous times (mostly within or nearby ME), I totally agree with all of these points, but that's why RJ Biz is always quite cheaper than most of Gulf airlines. Not to mention Big 3 Gulf airlines, its service level is way lower than GF, WY or SV etc. based on my experience in most of times. But once one...
As a long-term expat in the ME who have taken a RJ Biz class at a numerous times (mostly within or nearby ME), I totally agree with all of these points, but that's why RJ Biz is always quite cheaper than most of Gulf airlines. Not to mention Big 3 Gulf airlines, its service level is way lower than GF, WY or SV etc. based on my experience in most of times. But once one lowers his expectations (as it's cheap :p), it's just alright - with some drinkable local beer or wine available at RJ lounge and very generous check-in luggage policy (like MS) etc. I've already given up a long time ago some sort of professionalism from RJ service crew while even facing frequent occasions in which some female crew are actively flirting with Arab/Gulf male biz passengers etc. Again it's just alright considering its low biz price and generous luggage policy etc.
What airplane is RJ planning on using on DFW-AMN?
The 788, Ben details the whole thing in the article posted immediately before this one.
Have you ever considered doing an article on identifying different business class seat types, like the ones you had on identifying planes? There's a surprising amount of commonality among modern J seats and I'd love a primer on who flies what these days and how you can tell.
From the back it looks...meh?
A photo of the seat would be helpful in judging how the cabin and colours mesh.
I wish more carriers would put in more effort in choosing materials and finishes for their cabins rather than just off-the-shelf products. Take CX and EK for example. The former's Aria Suites - just gorgeous. Everything just meshes well together. And with the latter, while you may say tacky and gaudy, they still...
From the back it looks...meh?
A photo of the seat would be helpful in judging how the cabin and colours mesh.
I wish more carriers would put in more effort in choosing materials and finishes for their cabins rather than just off-the-shelf products. Take CX and EK for example. The former's Aria Suites - just gorgeous. Everything just meshes well together. And with the latter, while you may say tacky and gaudy, they still put in the thought and effort into their cabins. And diamond stitching is a nice touch.
@Benjamin,
Just curious how the doordashing experience went; did AA ever provide the bonus miles as promised?
Thanks!
https://onemileatatime.com/deals/doordash-american-loyalty-points/
Ben concludes that article by mentioning that, while the transaction was logged in the AA account, the miles had not been posted at that time.
@ Blake-Pickering -- Sadly they still haven't posted, so my plan is to follow up at the two week mark. That seems to be a common problem, unfortunately.