This year turning out to be a pretty exciting year for the passenger experience world. While airlines are recording record profits, they are investing heavily into their new aircraft, looking to try and win over market share. Here’s TheDesignAir’s round up of best business class seats you should fly in 2024.
1. Cathay Pacific 777 ‘Aria’ Suite
After more than a decade of the previous incarnation, the latest ‘Aria Suites’ will be seen as a welcome upgrade to Cathay’s already-leading product. With the new seat, there’s a sense of calming neutral tones, which are more in line with Cathay’s new A321 cabin rather than the existing long haul business class. We are looking forward to seeing how this, along with the new dining proposition and amenities further connect the inflight and ground experiences.
Launching Q2 2024
2. Air New Zealand 787 Business Premier
Flying one of the longest routes in the world on one of the oldest Business Classes in the world isn’t as good as it could be. Step in the new Business Premier seats that are set to be retrofitted into the airline’s 787s later this year.
The new seats are lightyears ahead of the older product (see our review of that experience here), and having sat in one of the new seats myself, I got to say this is a comfortable, spacious suite. And the front row of the cabin will feature an enhanced ‘Business Plus’ style seat with even more space, enough for two to dine!
Estimated October 2024
3. Hawaiian Airlines 787 Leihōkū suites
Hawaiian’s 300-seat 787 is one huge leap forward for this designer paradise-based carrier. The new aircraft which has already been delivered features its newest premium product, Leihōkū ‘garland of stars’: a business class cabin that features 34 suites fully lie-flat seating, an 18-inch in-flight entertainment screen, personal outlets, wireless charging and direct aisle access. Set in a 1-2-1 configuration with doors, the suites can offer privacy or a shared experience, with combined double seats allowing couples to fall asleep while gazing at a starlit ceiling. We’ll be reviewing this product soon!
Launching April 2024
4. American Airlines 787 Flagship Suites
These might look similar to Hawaiian’s seats, and there’s good reason. It’s the same physical seat, but with a completely different look and feel. The airline has opted to provide a Business Class Plus product at the front of each cabin, meaning (like Air New Zealand) the first row of each section will offer a superior seat product. Both 787 and 777 will feature these new seats, which offer illuminated marble cocktail tables, suite doors and some design features that have been created with American’s soft product and service in mind. This will be a welcome upgrade across American’s more varied cabin products across its fleet.
Officially launching October 2024
5. Malaysia Airlines A330neo Suites
New to Malaysia Airlines, these brand-new seats which will appear first on the airlines brand new A330neo’s and eventually its A350’s, is a big step up for the carrier which has offered a staggered Thompson product previously – which just isn’t competitive against the rest of Southeast Asia’s Business Class proposition. The new cabins will feature an all-suite product with individual privacy doors, as well as wireless charging pods available in all 28 of the Business Class seats across 7 rows in a 1 x 2 x 1 configuration like those found on British Airways.
Launching September 2024
6. Qatar Airways QSuite 2.0
Qatar Airways has been pretty tight-lipped on the latest edition of the QSuite, but recent developments at the airline mean the airlines retirement of the First Class cabin has now been scrapped, with the new CEO hinting at even more luxury afoot. While the new QSuite cabin will be revealed in July, we’re unsure when it will actually start flying, but the latest QSuite will most likely be lighter, and perhaps ‘off the peg’ similar to the approach it took with the 787 QSuites. Although knowing the airline, expect a best-in-class hard product.
Revealed July 2024 – entry into service TBD
7. Emirates 777 & A350 Business Class
Starting this summer, Emirates will start retrofitting its 777s ahead of the airline’s 777X feet and introduce a new A350 cabin. With these enhancements comes a new Business Class product. Like Qatar Airways, details are scant, but the announcements and reveals will most likely come in quick succession, and Emirates is set to deliver something comparable to Qatar Airways with a new all-aisle-access product similar or better than its A380 counterparts. Considering fleet consistency is key, expect a mini-bar, second screen and most likely – Suite doors. Experts are guessing this could be either the Safran Fusio or Unity seats, but only time will tell, and luckily we won’t have to wait that long.
Launching summer 2024
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