British Airways: which planes have first-class cabins

British Airways, which has been operating in its current form since 1974, is an international airline and the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. The airline was also one of the founding members of the One World Alliance back in February 1999.

In recent years, BA has scaled back its short-haul economy class offering, known as Euro Traveler, due to competition from low-cost airlines. However, on the other hand, its first-class cabins for long-haul flights are a benchmark of luxury comfort. The publication simpleflying.com provides details on which airplanes have such cabins and what this class of travel offers.

Flying first class with BA offers customers exclusive access to lounges, expedited security checks, and private, stylish suites onboard. According to British Airways, each first-class seat converts into a 198 cm (6 ft 6 in) long bed and comes with a quilted mattress, white cotton blanket, and pillow.

Regarding onboard meals, British Airways first-class passengers can dine at any time by ordering from the à la carte menu, which includes specialty dishes. In addition to meals, British Airways offers snacks and beverages, including cocktails and, of course, champagne. Free Wi-Fi is also available, and inflight entertainment is provided on a 15-inch screen.

Despite the desirable luxury of this offer, it is not available on all British Airways aircraft. Indeed, ch-aviation data shows that although BA's current fleet consists of almost 300 aircraft, only about 70 are equipped with first-class seats. As expected, all of them belong to the fleet of long-haul aircraft with two aisles.

The largest aircraft of British Airways in terms of total capacity are the double-decker Airbus A380s. Accordingly, these "superjumbos" have the largest first-class cabins of the carrier, and aeroLOPA data shows that each British Airways A380 has space for 14 passengers in the most exclusive travel class. These suites are arranged in four rows (1-2-1) on the lower deck.

The only other aircraft type in British Airways' current fleet with a 14-seat first-class cabin is the Boeing 777. BA operates both the 777-200ER and 777-300ER variants of Boeing's popular Triple Seven family of wide-body aircraft, as well as some other models. Each of these variants has 14 first-class suites. Other 777-200ERs and 777-300ERs have eight each, and some of the highly comfortable 777-200ERs have none.

Meanwhile, British Airways also has eight-seat first-class cabins on two of the three variants of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner family it operates. While the short-aisle 787-8 does not have such a cabin, it is present at the front of both the 787-9 and 787-10 extended fuselage models. The 787-9 is pictured above, although the 787-10 has the same arrangement with two portholes in a row.

Earlier, TravelWise wrote that British Airways predicts record growth in financial performance.