Qatar Airways Privilege Club - QR To Reconfigure 777's.

QR is to reconfigure at least some of its 777's by reducing business class to just 24 seats, removing what are currently business class seating rows 5-7, and replacing them with economy seating. This means that the economy seating in the 777-300ER versions will number from rows 10 to 50, as against 10 to 43 at the moment.

How about using that space to add an updated first class?
Yawn.

How about using that space to add an updated first class?
Yawn.

The reconfigured aircraft are to be used on 2 self contained, 22 hour rotations from March 25th, on what is principally a leisure route. There's no first class on the route at the moment, and I can't see that changing.

Its probably an experiment, with further reconfigurations to follow if its a success. On some routes 42 biz class seats are a few too many. Or so it seems.

24 seats is a quite small business class cabin, a bit mixed feeling about it... on one hand smaller cabin may drive up the price on that particular route depending how strong the demand it.

On the other hand i love QR relativel small business class - this is one of the reason while i will choose QR on my flight from SIN to NY over SQ's 388 ( beside price) because i hate these massive business class cabin with 60 + passengers.....

The reconfigured aircraft are to be used on 2 self contained, 22 hour rotations from March 25th, on what is principally a leisure route.

Interesting.

I'll be flying out of BKK in C class, late-ish February, evening flight. On CheckMyTrip.com the B777 seat plan has been reduced to the forward cabin only.

Same goes for my C class flight departing BKK mid June, again an evening flight.

Agree with THW though, the thought of a 60 seat C cabin doesn't thrill me at all. Much prefer the exclusive feel of a smaller cabin even though it'll probably put the fares beyond my reach.

Is this confirmed to be on the -300ERs? or the -200LRs? Because it would seem to make more sense on the 200s...

Is this confirmed to be on the -300ERs? or the -200LRs? Because it would seem to make more sense on the 200s...

So far I have only found two 777-300ER rotations that are to be reconfigured, but there may be more. Both are self contained and can be worked by the same pair of aircraft every day. The fun and games come when they are stopped for routine maintainence checks.

In my opinion, for what its worth, its being done because the demand for biz class on the routes that the rotations are to operate is well below the 42 seat capacity. I can't see it being done on a large scale, probably only on routes where the biz class loadings are poorer than the prospect of selling the extra 63 economy seats.

Interesting.

I'll be flying out of BKK in C class, late-ish February, evening flight. On CheckMyTrip.com the B777 seat plan has been reduced to the forward cabin only.

Same goes for my C class flight departing BKK mid June, again an evening flight.

Agree with THW though, the thought of a 60 seat C cabin doesn't thrill me at all. Much prefer the exclusive feel of a smaller cabin even though it'll probably put the fares beyond my reach.

The 2050 BKK-DOH is one of the flights to operated by the reconfigured aircraft. But, for the last week of February, its still shown to be operated by 777's with 7 rows of biz class seats. On one of these days the C cabin is almost full.

March 25th seems to be the starting date.

So far I have only found two 777-300ER rotations that are to be reconfigured, but there may be more. Both are self contained and can be worked by the same pair of aircraft every day. The fun and games come when they are stopped for routine maintainence checks.

In my opinion, for what its worth, its being done because the demand for biz class on the routes that the rotations are to operate is well below the 42 seat capacity. I can't see it being done on a large scale, probably only on routes where the biz class loadings are poorer than the prospect of selling the extra 63 economy seats.

Fair enough... and good point about the maintenance, that could give a big headache if sudden maintenance needs to be done, and the flight is fully booked, especially when you consider that the -300ER is the biggest plane in the fleet.

By the way, is there any indication on how the new cabins will be spaced... will it be 2 small + 2 big economy sections, or 3 big economy sections?

Fair enough... and good point about the maintenance, that could give a big headache if sudden maintenance needs to be done, and the flight is fully booked, especially when you consider that the -300ER is the biggest plane in the fleet.

By the way, is there any indication on how the new cabins will be spaced... will it be 2 small + 2 big economy sections, or 3 big economy sections?

Aircraft routine maintainence, known in the industry as 'checks', is based on hours flown, and can, to a certain extent, be planned in advance. Because the reconfigured aircraft will be dedicated to work the same rotations every day, these checks can be planned well in advance. The commercial department can then make advance plans for reducing seat availability to that of a standard config 777-300 while the work is carried out. But unscheduled repairs, and there's a big difference between them and routine maintainence, can cause a big headache if there are no other aircraft available with similar capacity. The same will happen if the checks overrun because of unexpected work that must be done before the aircraft can be returned to traffic.

As for the layout, at present there's just a partition divider between row 7 of biz class and row 10, the first of economy. There are no rows 8 or 9. Economy will still start with row number 10, but will commence where biz class row 5 is at present. The present row 10 will become 17 and there will be no rows 5-9. I presume the partition divider referred to above will be removed.

I presume the partition divider referred to above will be removed.

...That's what I'm wondering. Would be a shame though, as I always preferred the smaller front economy section :(

...That's what I'm wondering. Would be a shame though, as I always preferred the smaller front economy section :(

These things happen unfortunately. I also prefer the front economy section.

Reconfigered 773's are also working another principally leisure route from 2nd March. The route concerned is currently operated by a mix of 333, 77L and 773's, but only the 773 rotations are shown as reconfigured.

Looks like QR are forming a dedicated 777-300ER fleet for use on selected leisure orientated routes only. They have discovered that one size doesn't fit all.

Looks like QR are forming a dedicated 777-300ER fleet for use on selected leisure orientated routes only. They have discovered that one size doesn't fit all.

If I had to take a guess though, I would say that these aircraft will not be reconfigured (literally), but rather brand new ones from Boeing with the different cabin layout...

I wonder if they will feature the Brand New business cabin that has been rumoured for some while, or whether we'll have to wait for the 787 for that...

If I had to take a guess though, I would say that these aircraft will not be reconfigured (literally), but rather brand new ones from Boeing with the different cabin layout...

I wonder if they will feature the Brand New business cabin that has been rumoured for some while, or whether we'll have to wait for the 787 for that...

Airlines often re-configure their fleets to suit traffic requirements, so this is nothing unusual. B777-300ER A7-BAS is next for delivery, so perhaps it will be delivered with the new high denisty configuration.

From what I have managed to dig up, only two 300-ER's are being reconfigured. One will work the 0100 DOH-BKK-SGN or HAN-BKK-DOH rotation every day, and the other will either work the 0815 DOH-BKK-SGN or HAN-BKK-DOH rotation or a DOH-MNL-DOH one. The 2100 DOH-BKK-DOH rotation will continue to be operated by a standard low density 300-ER.

Its now up to the marketing department to fill all those extra seats.

DOH-MNL has been operating with this config for a while on A7-BAP.

DOH-MNL has been operating with this config for a while on A7-BAP.

Yes, has been since October. But I didn't know which particular aircraft it was as planespotters.net shows all 300-ER's as C42 Y293. Thanks for the info, I was hoping someone would come up with it. I don't use the Manila route, hence why I've never come across it in my travels.

What would be great is if they were to change the economy configuration from 3-3-3 to 2-5-2 (so only one row of people has to cross 2 persons in order to get to the corridor). 3-3-3 is horrendous, especially during meals, not mentioning those who operate 3-4-3, a horror.

What would be great is if they were to change the economy configuration from 3-3-3 to 2-5-2 (so only one row of people has to cross 2 persons in order to get to the corridor). 3-3-3 is horrendous, especially during meals, not mentioning those who operate 3-4-3, a horror.

Disagree, and I think there are plenty of other discussions on this. United switched from 2-5-2 to 3-3-3 based on customer demand. Who wants to get stuck in the middle of a block of 5?

Ironically, I happen to think that 2-4-2 is the best seating configuration. What a difference a seat can make!

A7-BAP seatmap here:
http://theqatarsource.com/boeing777-300erseatmap24j356y.html