Virgin Australia New Business Seats Delayed for Australia US

2nd Oct 2015

Virgin Australia passengers who were looking forward to enjoy some comfortable business class seats on their flights between Australia and United States will have to wait for that privilege until early 2016, the carrier said. Initially, VA was supposed to introduce the new seats in about a month from now.

A spokesman for the Australian carrier said in a statement this morning:

"We have recently been advised by the Business Class seat manufacturer B/E Aerospace that they are still completing the certification process on the seat. Therefore, we now expect the first reconfigured Boeing 777 to launch in early 2016."

Interestingly enough, the same certification problems delayed the installation of seats on the Virgin Australia's Airbus A330 planes.

The new seats will be the same as those on Virgin's domestic A330 services. They will be arranged in a 1-2-1 seating arrangement, which gives travellers better aisle access than the regular 2-3-2 configuration.

Virgin Australia currently operates five Boeing 777-300ER planes on the following routes: Sydney-LA, Brisbane-LA and Sydney-Abu Dhabi. All of the aircrafts on these routes are supposed to have the new business seats by the end of February, 2016.

The delay also causes another problem for Virgin. Namely, the Australian carrier will now have to rethink its intention to put its Boeing 777 fleet out of commission while it fits the new business class seats. The carrier will, however, be unable to do this at least until the end of the peak holiday season in January. This probably means its passengers will not see the upgraded Boeing 777s until early March next year.

When the upgraded Boeing 777s do finally arrive, passengers will be able to enjoy more legroom, improved in-flight meals and refreshments, a larger bar, as well as some other perks that will enhance their comfort level.