Virgin Atlantic has unveiled details of its Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, which includes an entirely new Upper Class cabin, featuring a brand new suite and social space. The airline’s first A350, named Red Velvet, will take to the skies from late summer 2019. Virgin Atlantic has ordered a total of 12 Airbus A350-1000, with them all scheduled to join the fleet by 2021.
The design includes the largest social space in the airline’s fleet, The Loft, designed for customers to gather, enjoy a drink or dine with friends.
The Loft offers a wide range of cocktails, and the option for customers to dine together and enjoy Mile High afternoon tea by Eric Lanlard and a selection of new dishes by Donal Skehan. Customers can relax with Bluetooth headphones and connect to the 32” screen for in-flight entertainment including the live tailcam.
The Upper Class cabin boasts an entirely new suite, designed in collaboration with a number of Virgin Atlantic’s most frequent flyers.
Laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration, every suite has a 44-inch pitch, with a fully flat-bed length of up to 82 inches. All suites will transition seamlessly from an upright seat, straight to a bed.
Every seat now faces towards the window and offers deployable privacy screens, and includes Virgin Atlantic’s largest ever in-flight entertainment screen, at 18.5”and features intuitive new system, controllable by customers’ own personal device.
In line with the rest of the fleet, every customer will still have direct aisle access.
Premium cabin and Economy cabin also see increased levels of luxury and comfort.
Both have the largest entertainment screens ever offered; 13.3-inch in Premium and 11.6-inch in Economy.
Premium customers will also enjoy a 7-inch recline, increased space for storage, a four way adjustable headrest and a luxurious leather seat.
Economy seats have been upgraded to new luxurious fabrics offering adjustable headrests. Economy Light and Classic will offer a 31-inch seat pitch whilst Economy Delight offers 34 inches.
The entire aircraft will also have access to high speed Wi-Fi.
Mark Anderson, executive vice president Customer, at Virgin Atlantic commented: “The introduction of our A350 represents a true evolution of our customer experience. We believe flying should be exciting, whether it’s your first or 100th flight with us and that’s why we’ve elevated our offering to provide our customers with something totally unique. The A350 forms a significant part of our fleet transformation strategy and by 2022, we’ll have our youngest, cleanest, greenest fleet in the sky as the aircraft transforms our customer experience, reduces our environmental impact and improves our route economics.”
