Etihad's new business class will be a suite
The pandemic has changed the plans of many airlines, among those most affected is certainly the official carrier of the [...]
Etihad Airways
AUH
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The pandemic has changed the plans of many airlines, and among those most affected is certainly the official carrier of the UAE. While serial accumulators of points and miles are hoping that, complicit with what so many other airlines have done, even Etihad rethinks its A38 retirement0 to be able to fly back to the first-class apartment aboard the Emirates-based giant of the skies, the Abu Dhabi-based flag carrier today unveiled, as a surprise, its new business class aboard A350s.
What we know about the new cabin
In late 2019 and early 2020, Airbus had delivered the first five A350s to the carrier, which for a couple of years was Alitalia's partner. Complicated by the pandemic, these planes never made any commercial flights, and only these days one of the five examples was flown to nearby Dubai to be presented at the Dubai Air Show.
Etihad presents its A350-1000 cabins at the Dubai Air Show 2021
5x A35Ks were delivered in 2019 and 2020 and have since been stored
Collins Super Diamond for Business class; similar to BA Club Suite and Aeroflot 77W
787-9,-10, A35K become their future long-haul fleet#DAS21 https://t.co/8AFax9PFVd pic.twitter.com/LWck3zAWfZ
- Incompressible Flow (@incompressflow) November 14, 2021
Etihad's top management has opted for a momentous change from the current and beautiful first class cabin.
It was hard to find a better product than the current cabin featured on the B787 and Etihad fleet, probably, succeeded by choosing what today is the best product available on the market, namely the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond with the addition of the door.
In short, the same choice made by British Airways on its fleet of 777s and A350s. In addition to this, it is confirmed that first class seats in Etihad's fleet will be very few and will not be on Airbuses, but only on a few 787s.
The fittings of these brand new A350s also confirm that. there won't even be premium economy and that therefore the EY long-haul fleet will be primarily two-class, with as mentioned rare exceptions on the 787s that are outfitted with 4 first-class seats. It is a safe bet, however, that they will soon be sacrificed to make room for at least twice as many biz seats.
In conclusion
The first images, blurry and unprofessional, bode well. The seat is definitely one of the best on the market, I really like Etihad's colors, and it will make the cabin even more elegant than those of BA and AA that use the same configuration.
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