2000 - British Airways goes fully flat in Club World. Michelle Harbi recalls the launch of BA’s ‘yin-yang’ seating concept 15 years ago
It’s now a decade and a half since British Airways kick-started the fully-flat revolution in business class.
In the late 1990s, BA’s cradle-style recliner seat in business was the best in the sky. But demand for the premium cabin was weak and competition was fierce. The airline needed a new way to differentiate itself, and enlisted design company Tangerine to help.
BA's first generation Club World seat
Tangerine's original "lounge in the sky" design
The challenge was to create a new kind of seat that didn’t take up more valuable space in the cabin. Tangerine’s answer, the forward-backward facing “yin-yang” concept that is now familiar to so many of us, allowed the airline to offer fully-flat beds in an eight-across configuration.
The seat entered service on the New York JFK route early in 2000, with a revamped version introduced in late 2006. Late last year, the airline told us it would “probably” offer a new Club World seat on its A350, due in 2017.
Whether it will keep the “yin-yang” layout is not known, but it will be interesting to see how BA will again look to stand out from its rivals.
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