Air Canada plans to refurbish 18 of its 777
 

"Air Canada plans to refurbish 18 of it's 777 planes beginning in 2015. It will add a premium economy class and upgrade business class so it conforms to the same standards as the new 787 planes"

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle18675781/

So wonder if this means all 777's are moving to HD hell...

As worded in this press release

we are planning on converting 12 Boeing 777-300ER and six Boeing 777-200LR aircraft into a more competitive configuration,

Bolding mine.

That means the entire long haul fleet will be in the less comfortable configuration.

Wonder if it's the 787 business seats or the new 777 business class seats. I guess it's premium economy or Business for me from now on in long haul. :td:

I am sure it will mean 10 across reduced seat pitch "HD hell" in the back, and also a shrunken J cabin. How many fewer J seats is the only question?

Also interesting that AC management has have changed their minds and decided to keep the rest of the E190s. I still am unclear as to what the short term replacement plans are for the 20 Boeing will buy from AC (next year apparently)?

More "enhancements" from AC

Now we have to avoid these when flying Y
- all Rouge
- all 777HD
- "unknown" 787 routes/dates for Y
- new 77W/77L

Í´m fairly confident the 777s will get the new J pod and not the mediocre 77P J seat.

But apart from that there are three interesting questions:

1) How many J/PE/Y seats?
2) I think it´s safe to assume seat pitch will be reduced in Y, but will AC also cramp in one more seat per row?
3) If the answer to #2 is yes, will they at least have a few rows of "preferred seats" with extra seat pitch, and possibly the current 3-3-3 config?

I don't think you can make that assumption without knowing the details. The five HD planes have a higher gross weight. There is a likelihood of more Y seating, and the certainty of three products vs the current two and a J product comparable to the new 787 J

Soon to be offering less for more....

It will be the n ew B-788 Business Class seats and PY as well will receive the new PY as well.

..."In addition, Air Canada plans to refurbish 18 of its 777 planes beginning in 2015. It will add a premium economy class to those planes and upgrade business class so that it conforms to the same standards as the new 787 planes."

We need a report from the 787 do as to what the new 787 J seats actually are,
as the Globe reports that these are the same ones that will go into the 777's. If it is the one I test
drove in Seattle, AC will lose a lot of my business .

The press release is pretty clear, seating setup like 787 not 777HD

So decent but less J, a premium economy section and a tighter economy. ( how tight, is the big question) plus updated IFE system

Probably finalized deal on seats and change now that 787 is finally arriving.

Listening to the Q1 conference call this morning and the following was confirmed (some of which has already been stated):

Addition of premium economy
New 787 standard International J
Total of 51 additional seats on the B77W and 30 additional seats on the B77L. The breakdown of where the additional seats will be was not confirmed.

This will bring the 77W to 400 seats and the 77L to 300 seats. So a denser config, still not quite HD levels, but not sure how they could add that many seats without going 10 across in Y.

I can only assume, that the B-77W will add 24 PY seats as on the B-77P and the balance of seats (27) will be in Y. I also think they will not tamper with the density on the B-77L but rather only add the (30) additional seats in PY.
Let's hope when they make these modifications, that the PY cabin will be a separate cabin and/or at least have a curtain and also make provisions for proper FA staffing levels as on CX.

Moving galley and lavatory structures is a major ordeal and cost. I'm purely speculating that PY will occupy the "B" Cabin currently configured for J.

16J > 24/32 PY ??

I will be shocked if the addition of PY does not come at the expense of a J reduction as we've seen in the 787.