Virgin Atlantic A330 new Upper Class cabins

17^th Jul 2022

Virgin Atlantic has shown off it's revamped Business Class seat - dubbed Upper Class. It uses a standard off-the-shelf Business Class seat, but added the airlines' own touches, and includes a small bar. One refinement is the seats at the front of the cabin will be 'Business Class plus' with more space.

Virgin Atlantic's new Business Class seats have gone on show, for it's new A330neo aircraft, ahead of the aircraft's first flights. The airline has purchased a small fleet of the twin engined aircraft for what are politely called 'leisure' routes, to smaller destinations where there are fewer premium passengers that don't justify a large aircraft.

The airline has plumped for an off the shelf design of Business Class seat, rather than designing it's own for the relatively few aircraft it has in the fleet.

The A330neo Upper Class seat is simply the Thompson Aero Seating's Vantage XL platform, with just customised fabric choices. It has been flying for a decade now with Qantas, on it's A330, 787 and A380s. It is also used by its sister carrier Delta, for it's Delta One Suites.

The Thompson Vantage XL is a well-established product, with a seat that faces straight forward, with a wrap around shelf and hard shell. Arranged in a 1-2-1 layout for direct aisle access, there is a 17.3" touchscreen HD monitor with Bluetooth audio streaming to your own headphones, wireless charging, AC and USB power outlets, high-speed WiFi and with what has now become a standard feature in Business Class - a mirror so that according to Virgin travellers "can check they're looking runway ready."

Although Virgin said it would never fit doors on it's Business Class seats as it was a 'social airline', that is exactly what it has done on these new seats, bowing to the competition, and included these for added privacy.

Virgin Atlantic has also taken a leaf out of other airline's designs, where the front row is designed as a 'business plus', simply due to the fact that to get a flat bed, in most rows, the seat tucks into the row in front. However in the front row there is no need for that, and it allows a lot more space. JetBlue's do this with their Mint Studio and Air New Zealand, who call it Luxe.

Virgin Atlantic call it 'The Retreat' and it boasts a 6 foot 7 inch fully-flat bed, an ottoman which doubles as a companions seat for dining for two, and a 27 inch HD TV screen - a full 10 inches larger than its Upper Class equivalents

There is also a much smaller evolution of the Virgin Atlantic bar, with 'The Loft', which consists of space for eight people, with four comfortable seats, plus a new self-service fridge and drinks dispenser.

The airframe of the A330 is one of the narrowest of the widebody twin aisle aircraft, and many of the 'off the shelf' seats from the main manufacturers just don't fit, and that includes the seats on it's newer, and somewhat larger, A350 aircraft. However this may cause some confusion among customers with now three different designs of Business Class seating.

The aircraft has also been with us since 1992, making it a 30 year old design, although Virgin Atlantic has purchased the newly uprated 'neo' version.

However Virgin Atlantic are trumping this as offering more intimate cabins to reinforce Virgin's "boutique" appeal; it is certainly moving away from the decades' old herringbone Upper Class product currently on the A330 and 787, which was a design that appeared outdated when it was fitted 20 years ago, in a similar design on Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways A380.

There is a slightly revamped Premium Economy, with 46 MiQ Premium Economy seats with a very standard 38 inches of pitch and leather seats, in a 2-3-2 layout.

In economy, again Virgin are mirroring their sister Delta by adding some rows with 34 inches of pitch, while the rest remain an industry standard of 31 inches and a 2-4-2 layout, the only seating plan that fits the A330. There are 28 Economy Delight seats, which offer that increased 34" seat pitch, and 156 Economy Classic seats, providing a 31" pitch.

Virgin Atlantic A330 new Upper Class cabins

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