American is continuing the upgrade of its premium cabins by fitting "next-generation" business class seating to its fleet of 48 Boeing 777 aircraft.
The US carrier began revamping its premium offering last year (see online news July 19, 2006), but the latest stage is significant as it will see some of American's most important routes carrying the new lie-flat product - flights from London Heathrow to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami all use the 777 aircraft.
American is one of the first US carriers to offer angled lie-flat seating in business class (Northwest also carries this type of seating in some of its aircraft), although in some respects the product is behind the times before it has even been installed, as many rivals including BA, Virgin, Air New Zealand and more recently North American carrier Air Canada have all introduced flat beds in business class. AA's new seat offers 195.6 cm (77 ins) of legroom when fully reclined, and with the privacy divide raised and the armrest lowered the total seat width increases to 58.4 cm (23 ins).
The fact that United Airlines has yet to follow suit and offer an angled lie-flat product in business class, suggests it may be mulling the possibility of going fully flat, while Delta has already trumped its US rivals by announcing it will start fitting a flat bed product from next year (see online news October 12, 2006).
For more information visit americanairlines.co.uk.
Report by Mark Caswell American is continuing the upgrade of its premium cabins by fitting "next-generation" business class seating to its fleet of 48 Boeing 777 aircraft.
The US carrier began revamping its premium offering last year (see online news July 19, 2006), but the latest stage is significant as it will see some of American's most important routes carrying the new lie-flat product - flights from London Heathrow to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami all use the 777 aircraft.
American is one of the first US carriers to offer angled lie-flat seating in business class (Northwest also carries this type of seating in some of its aircraft), although in some respects the product is behind the times before it has even been installed, as many rivals including BA, Virgin, Air New Zealand and more recently North American carrier Air Canada have all introduced flat beds in business class. AA's new seat offers 195.6 cm (77 ins) of legroom when fully reclined, and with the privacy divide raised and the armrest lowered the total seat width increases to 58.4 cm (23 ins).
The fact that United Airlines has yet to follow suit and offer an angled lie-flat product in business class, suggests it may be mulling the possibility of going fully flat, while Delta has already trumped its US rivals by announcing it will start fitting a flat bed product from next year (see online news October 12, 2006).
For more information visit americanairlines.co.uk.
Report by Mark Caswell 
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