The way people travel is changing and what is also massively changing is what people expect from the onboard experience. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see many airlines revamping their plane’s cabins. Airlines are seriously upping their game in the post covid era. This even more the case with airline’s business class products. KLM is no exception and today I’ll take a closer look at what the Dutch flag carrier has planned.
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Airline’s Playing Catch Up On Their Business Class Products
The issue for airlines around the world is how Qatar Airways revolutionised the concept of Business Class travel. The middle eastern airline decided to abandon its first class product, present only on a handful of routes, and reinvent a new concept of Business Class. What they did was to create something that was half way between what you’d expect from Business and First class.
A seat with a sliding door for extra privacy and an extremely refined on board dining experience. This made many other airline’s business class product suddenly look old or a lot less attractive. Therefore the business class catch up game began.
A New KLM Boeing 777 Business Class
What is in store fore KLM’s Boeing 777 is a complete revamping of current Business Class present onboard. The airline will be stripping out of its Boeing 777 fleet the old outdated business class replacing it with a new state of the art product. Something that potentially should put it, at leas as far as the hard product goes, with the new BA business class and the QSuites.
Within the next year all 31 KLM Boeing 777 (15 777-200ER variant and 16 777-300ER variant) will undergo the refurbishment process. Among what the KLM’s Boeing 777 new business class will offer:
- A sliding door that can be closed for extra privacy during the flight.
- All seats will have direct aisle access as they will feature a 1-2-1 configuration.
- When in flat configuration the seat becomes a 198cm bed.
- More personal adjustment options with lower back support and seat massage option.
The new KLM Boeing 777 Business class seats are a customisation of the Jamco Venture seat which is already present in the Royal Dutch Airline’s 787 cabin. KLM collaborated with the Japanese aircraft interior manufacturer to create this new hard product.
Image by KLM.com
A Huge Upgrade From The Previous Business Class Product
The new KLM Boeing 777 Business Class promises to be leaps and bounds ahead of what is currently offered on these wide body jets. Currently passengers travelling on the 777 fleet are presented with quite an outdated product. Right now Business Class is set up in a 2-2-2 configuration, meaning that not all seats have direct aisle access. Also this configuration doesn’t offer much privacy to passengers seated next to each other that aren’t travelling together.
The upgrade of the KLM Boeing 777 Business class will also insure greater consistency among the all aircraft types present in the Dutch flag carrier’s fleet. Once the upgrade has been complete only the 11 Airbus A330-200 and A330-300 will still offer the old product.
Image by KLM.com
The KLM New Premium Economy is Also Coming to the Boeing 777
Another upgrade that will be taking place during the Business class upgrade is the fitting of the new Premium Economy cabin. KLM’s Premium economy cabin has been acclaimed by many as one of the best on the market so it’ll be great to see it available on a larger portion of their fleet.
