American Airlines will soon introduce a new business class cabin on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. This will include 70 suite-style seats that will replace the airline’s old first class cabin and potentially result in a reduction in legroom and one less lavatory on the aircraft.
The new international business class product, Flagship Suites, was highly anticipated and first announced in September 2022. These upgraded business class seats are intended to replace the existing first class seats on American’s long-haul flights.
Photo: Courtesy of American Airlines
The suites use a variation of the Adient Ascent seat, which is already found in the business class cabins of Qatar Airways and Hawaiian Airlines.
The standard Flagship Suite seats feature flat beds and fully closing doors, while passengers seeking even more luxury can snag the Flagship Suite Preferred seats on the bulkhead. These seats are more spacious and offer extras like Best Bedding mattress toppers and memory foam lumbar pillows.
Photo: Courtesy of American Airlines
Both types of flagship suites were scheduled to be introduced this year on the airline’s newly delivered Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and Airbus A321XLRs. However, with deliveries of those aircraft delayed, travelers may first experience the flagship suites on American’s refitted Boeing 777-300ERs.
Project Olympus
The cabin refit, known as Project Olympus, will involve redesigning the interiors of 20 777-300ERs starting next month. The aircraft will be fitted with 70 flagship suites and 44 premium economy seats, significantly increasing premium capacity. Each aircraft currently has 52 business class seats and 24 premium economy seats.
Photo: Current First Class cabin, Boeing 777-300ER / Photo: Courtesy of American Airlines Newsroom
American Airlines claims that they will add a remarkable 38 premium seats without reducing the aircraft’s 216 economy seats. It is obvious that American is making room for these additional premium seats by eliminating the eight first class seats in the remodeled 777-300ERs.
Although these first class seats were spacious, their space couldn’t quite compete with the 18 business class suites and 20 premium economy seats.
American Airlines has not revealed where it will get the extra space, but aviation expert JonNYC speculated on X that the airline may do away with one of the plane’s lavatories and reduce the pitch (distance between seats) by one inch in both business and economy class.
Photo: American Airlines, Boeing 777-300ER. Courtesy of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Even though seat pitch has been reduced from 43 to 42 inches, the flagship suites are still luxurious. Travelers may feel the squeeze in the main cabin more. Fortunately, with so many extra business class seats, they have more opportunities to snag better seats using miles or upgrades.
American Airlines has not yet announced when and where the first modernized Boeing 777-300ER will take off. The planes must be recertified with the new interior, which can take weeks to months.
Further delays in sight?
The airline currently has no set timetable for the delivery of its new Boeing Dreamliners. It was originally planned to start operations with the Flagship Suites this fall.
Photo: Flagship Suite, Airbus A321XLR. Courtesy of American Airlines
On the other hand, the arrival of the new Airbus A321XLR is imminent: the airline’s first A321XLR was recently spotted being towed at Hamburg-Finkenwerder Airport (XFW). However, the aircraft is not yet ready for takeoff as the engines have not yet been installed and the fuselage painting has not yet been completed. However, the tail already shows American’s livery inspired by the US flag.
Photo: Premium Economy, Airbus A321XLR. Courtesy of American Airlines
The new A321XLRs will eventually feature 20 flagship suites, 12 premium economy seats and 123 main cabin seats. These aircraft will be used for premium cross-country routes, including flights from Boston (BOS) and New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and Orange County (SNA).
