I mentioned this a few days ago, but it seems British Airways the first routes to have high density seating installed have been quietly discovered by RoutesOnline.
British Airways High Density Boeing 777-200ER – from IAG Investors day slides November 2016
The high density Boeing 777-220ER aircraft will be introduced into service in May 2018.
So onto the routes – and all from London Gatwick in the first instance. These are based on when RoutesOnline, and in order of deployment
- London Gatwick – Kingston – Commences 7th May 2018, initially operating Mondays and Wednesdays, switching to Mondays and Fridays on 10th September 2018
- London Gatwick – Punta Cana – Commences 8th May 2018, operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays
- London Gatwick – Orlando – Commences 11th May 2018 on Fridays aboard BA2037/2036. During the Summer period between 8th June and 8th September, this will operate Fridays and Saturdays
- London Gatwick – Cancun – Commences 12th May 2018 once weekly on Saturdays, with an increase in use to three times a week from 20th June 2018 operating Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays
- London Gatwick – Tampa – Commences 7th June 2018, twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays
- London Gatwick – New York JFK – Commences 8th July 2018 with a daily service
- London Gatwick – Ft. Lauderdale – Commences 13th September 2018 operating Thursdays
As can be seen, there is a slow roll-out of the new high density product, until the Gatwick to JFK service rolls out which will be a daily service
As a reminder, the planes will be in a high density configuration with 336 seats, split as:
- 32 Club World (Business Class) seats in a 2-4-2 configuration
- 52 World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) seats in a 2-4-2 configuration
- 252 World Traveller (Economy Class) seats in 3-4-3 configuration.
The seat count changes are below (3 Class 777 vs 3 Class HD 777)
Club World World Traveller Plus World Traveller Count 40 24 216 280 32 (-8) 48 (+24) 252 (+36) 332 (+52)
This configuration favours a lower Club World seat count, whilst boosting World Traveller Plus with double the existing seats, and introducing a 10-across layout in World Traveller
Currently, fifteen Boeing 777-200 aircraft are based at Gatwick Airport – supporting the British Airways long haul fleet. The plans from IAG call for 25 aircraft to be converted to the new High Density standard.
Expect these high destiny planes to be turning up at Heathrow sooner rather than later…
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can also follow me on Instagram too!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to European readers.
52 more people shoehorned into a 777-200? That sounds absolutely miserable. I’m (tentatively) planning a trip to the UK to go to Farnborough next year, and I’d really not experience this level of compression.
Any word on how fast these planes will come into service after the initial rollout? Looks like initially only have to avoid Thursday and Sunday from Tampa (or just drive up to Orlando instead).
Maybe I’ll go with Icelandair’s new service from TPA and have a few days in Iceland instead?
You list the seats as “Club Europe” in the bullets above and I think you mean “Club World”. Don’t give IAG any ideas!
You can bet a beancounter is pondering “would that work….” 😉
Fixed.
So BA in their wisdom have introduced sardine class in order to improve their public image and improve customer relations.. This is starting to rival Thompson or Monarch in classy seating – or is it worse?
10 across 777’s have been in BA’s past when they partnered with another airline out of Gatwick.
Seems BA is at it once again, in the quest for more profits…