British Airways unveils new short haul seating (tables return!) for its latest A320neos

Single aisle aircraft are rarely sexy, but British Airways is making some welcome changes to upcoming deliveries of its short haul workhorse.

It is introducing the new Airbus ‘Airspace’ cabin interior as well as brand new short haul seating.

BA’s new short haul seating

A handful of rows were available to view at the British Airways showcase event at 122 Leadenhall on Monday evening. As you can see, I had a little go:

There’s not much you can do with short haul seating, and the photos I took aren’t great due to the blue lighting used, but the new seats appear to be upholstered in a navy blue. Red detailing on the adjustable headrests also introduces some much needed colour into the cabins.

In Club Europe, British Airways will introduce a new and redesigned middle table console. This is a welcome addition after BA started removing these from new deliveries and provides a welcome place to place a glass of champagne!

As before, the number of Club rows can be adjusted from flight to flight and the console tables can be removed and inserted at will.

There is some herringbone stitching – reminiscent of BA’s other Club branding – on the seatbacks.

Other changes include the addition of more accessible USB-A and USB-C ports with one of each for every passenger. With USB-C now able to charge high-power laptops and other devices, the decision has been made to remove three-pin mains sockets. They will be capable of delivering 60W in Club Europe and 15W in Euro Traveller.

The seats are being manufactured by Collins Aerospace in Northern Ireland and feature Scottish leather.

Whilst the changes will not fundamentally alter the cabin – Club Europe remains a ‘eurobusiness’ proposition with blocked middle seat – it does include minor adjustments to modernise the aircraft.

Bigger overhead bins are coming

The Airspace cabin was initially introduced on the Airbus A350 back in 2016. According to Airbus,

“Signature design elements recognisable throughout all Airspace cabins include wider seats; larger overhead storage bins; spacious, contemporary lavatories with antibacterial surfaces; along with unobstructed under-seat foot space.”

Airspace was introduced for single-aisle aircraft in 2021, five years after the first A320neo was delivered.

SWISS was the first airline to fly the Airspace cabin on the A320neo in 2022. It is currently an optional extra for airlines, which is why BA’s existing fleet of A320neo aircraft generally have the older style. It has been quietly rolled out on some of the more recent BA neos which feature the larger ‘XL’ overhead bins although, in our experience, passengers are not yet aware that they can be loaded differently.

Whilst likely to be pricier, the Airspace cabin comes with a number of benefits. Chief amongst them are the larger overhead bins, which allow more trolley bags to be stored in each unit. This is achieved by increasing the volume of the bins, allowing bags to be stored on their side wheels-first:

The new bins are capable of holding eight 61cm x 40cm x 25cm size bags each and increase overall luggage capacity by over 60%. This should help on full flights where British Airways typically asks for volunteers to check their cabin bags – and in some instances recently we’ve seen bags removed from everyone in the lower numbered boarding groups

Other design changes include slimmer sidewall panels that increase cabin width at shoulder level and redesigned window bezels that make the cabin look bigger and brighter. The aircraft will also feature programmable LED mood-lighting, just as you see on the latest widebody aircraft.

When will we see the new cabins?

British Airways currently has 13 next generation A320neo and 7 A321neo aircraft on the order books, although it’s likely to order more in the future as it phases out its current aircraft.

The new cabins will appear on all future deliveries.

BA’s next A320neo and A321neos are expected to be delivered in the next 6-8 weeks, likely in April. The new cabin will be launched either on G-TNED (A321neo) or G-TTNV (A320neo), depending on which comes first.

That leaves 33 existing A320neo and A321neo aircraft in BA’s fleet with the older cabin, although Airbus does offer a light-touch refit kit to install similarly large overhead bins on existing aircraft.

BA has not made an announcement regarding adding the new seats or bins to its existing fleet.

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