British Airways is rolling out a new website, new seats and new ways to communicate as part of its multi-million dollar transformation.

British Airways has announced an array of new initiatives to transform the airline, unveiling a GBP7 billion (US$8.96 billion) transformation plan, which has been designed to revolutionise the airline’s business. The plan includes taking delivery of new aircraft, introducing new cabins, elevating its customer care, focusing on operational performance, and addressing its environmental impact by reducing our emissions and creating a culture of sustainability.

New Cabins and Seats 

New short-haul seats and cabin interiors will feature on the next generation of British Airways’ Airbus A320neo and A321neos, with eight aircraft set to arrive from May this year. The airline is working with the best of British suppliers from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the new short-haul Euro Traveller and Club Europe seats reflecting a modern yet classic British interior.

Club Europe seats will see the return of the bespoke leather tray that sits between the aisle and window seat. All Club Europe seats will also be fitted with USB-A & USB-C power (60W) backrest-mounted charging ports, while the Euro Traveller seats will be fitted with USB-A & USB-C (15W) backrest-mounted charging ports.

The re-designed cabins will also be fitted with extra-large bins for overhead luggage.

New Lounge Design Concept 

The airline is set to open another brand-new lounge, this time in Dubai, which is relocating to a new larger space at Dubai Airport later this year. This lounge will be the first to feature British Airways’ new lounge design concept, followed by the opening of its Miami lounge in 2025. The new Dubai lounge will replace the existing lounge facility at the airport, offering more space and more features for customers. The airline has also announced lounge refreshes in Lagos and Seattle, following recent lounge refurbishments at Heathrow Terminals 5 and 3, as well as Edinburgh.

New Routes 

British Airways’ flights from London to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur are set to return. The services will re-start in October and November respectively, further demonstrating British Airways’ commitment to expanding its network to Asia post pandemic.

Flights from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur (LHR-KUL) are scheduled to operate daily from November 10 on a 4-cabin 787-9 aircraft with the following configuration: eight First, 42 Club, 39 World Traveller Plus, and 127 World Traveller. Services between Bangkok and London Gatwick will be operated with a 777-200ER.

British Airways is also returning to Abu Dhabi on April 20, as well as welcoming Agadir in Morrocco on March 31 and adding Izmir in Turkey to its network on May 18.

Investment in First  

As the only European carrier to offer First Class between the UK and US, British Airways is to introduce a brand-new and exclusive First suite. The airline expects the new seat to make its debut at the end of 2025 into early 2026 as part of its A380 aircraft refurbishment.

WiFi Enhancements 

With more customers looking to remain connected with the world from their seats, from next month, British Airways Executive Club Members will start to be able to send messages free of charge on a single device using the airline’s WiFi – whatever cabin they’re travelling in. The service will be available on every WiFi-enabled aircraft within two weeks of the rollout date.

The free messaging pass will allow Executive Club members to use messaging-type online applications, such as WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and Teams Chat – without images, videos or attachments, text only. Free messaging will be available on all BA connected aircraft for the full duration of the flight on a single device. Executive Club Members will access by logging into their account. Non-members can sign up on board or before they travel, in order to use the free Messaging service.

The airline has also become the first to offer a WiFi-enabled inflight customer care solution to solve issues in the moment – even at 35,000ft. Created especially for British Airways by Microsoft, customer care teams on the ground are now able to connect with cabin crew colleagues across more than 300 flights a day. The functionality allows crew to help solve any unexpected issues before a flight lands at one of the airline’s more than 200 destinations.

WiFi is available on all of the airline’s Gatwick fleet and more than 80 per cent of British Airways’ Heathrow fleet, rolling out to 100 per cent by the end of 2025.

A New Web Presence

As part of its investment programme, British Airways has confirmed plans to overhaul its digital user experience with a new website and mobile app offering deeper personalisation. The new ba.com browser is already in BETA testing with platforms designed to offer a range of new services, including empowering customers to self-serve if they wish, taking control of and making changes to their journeys online, rather than having to call one of the airline’s customer care centres to alter their plans. Initial changes will start to roll out by the end of the year.

Operational Excellence 

The airline is investing GBP100 million (US$128 million) in machine learning, automation and AI across its operation, driving improvements from bookings to baggage handling and helping to revolutionise its operation, speed up departures and respond to disruption. Innovative new tools are helping to predict delays (prompting pre-emptive action to reduce disruption) and analyse real-time weather, aircraft capacity and customer connections data to help teams make better decisions. Since the introduction of the systems, alongside a number of new processes and ways of working, the airline has seen improvement to its on-time departures.

British Airways is also creating around 350 new roles at Heathrow to improve customer experience at its home and hub airport, and is investing in new equipment, such as baggage tugs and towing vehicles.

Sustainability 

Taking significant and urgent action to address aviation’s impacts is critical to make the industry much more sustainable in the long term. Through the BA Better World programme and its commitment to people, planet, and responsible business, British Airways continues to innovate to drive continual improvement in its environmental, social, and governance business performance and meet its net zero target by 2050 or sooner.

Recently the airline’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), announced its largest SAF purchase agreement to date with e-SAF (power-to-liquid) producer ‘Twelve’, which will supply advanced e-SAF made from carbon dioxide, water and renewable energy to support IAG’s five European airlines, including British Airways. The next-generation fuel will reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% versus conventional jet fuel. IAG is the first European airline group to announce an e-SAF deal, and the agreement will enable it to continue increasing its SAF use towards the goal of 10% by 2030.

For more Airline & Airport stories click here.

STAY IN THE KNOW BY FOLLOWING US ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, & LINKEDIN