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Old Mar 9, 2019, 1:08 pm
  #946  
 
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Originally Posted by sxc

Except in BAs case it seems like they wasted time (years?) developing their bespoke seat (ie the first post) and then threw it away in favour of a catalogue product.
i guess that would depend on your definition of throwing it away?
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 1:11 pm
  #947  
 
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Originally Posted by sb1982

But have they been producing the seats for some time now, so they have a supply ready to be fitted? Or will they only begin after they announce it?
according to AC it will be fitted to the A350, so I guess f you start with the launch of that then work back......
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 1:13 pm
  #948  
 
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Originally Posted by sb1982

But have they been producing the seats for some time now, so they have a supply ready to be fitted? Or will they only begin after they announce it?
I would of thought so. The first A350 is in final assembly as we speak.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 3:07 pm
  #949  
 
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Originally Posted by sb1982

But have they been producing the seats for some time now, so they have a supply ready to be fitted? Or will they only begin after they announce it?
Whilst they may be manufacturing the seat, this does not mean it is the same manufacturing methods or design spec.

For example the QSuite is a variant of a seat by a manufacturer however it has a lot of additions, edits and bespoke features. Im no seat manufacturer or even in the industry but I cant see this being a standard off-the-line product.

Maybe Im wrong, I hope not for the sake of FTer expectations
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 5:03 pm
  #950  
 
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Originally Posted by Raffles
3 seats per day max. Cruz reaffirmed this in a recent staff briefing.
I know, but thats completely irrelevant to what I said: QR are taking five to eight years for the new Y because theyre not pulling frames in to refit especially for this. BA are likely to do so, I would think?

The seat manufacture rate is a limiting factor, but is not necessarily the defining one (I suspect it is for BA, but is not for QR - which was the post I was responding to).
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 9:15 pm
  #951  
 
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Just to give a general update and what I think is going to happen here.

So BA's A350 has just been moved to station 40 of the production process which means the tail fin and the wings are now being installed. First picture of the tail fin is out. (All over twitter)

Now once station 40 is done the aircraft will be moved to station 30 to get the new seats installed. Now at this point I believe BA will announce the seat because it is essentially no longer behind closed doors as it's now being installed.

(Would've posted a picture myself but I'm not yet allowed to post URLs)

Last edited by opus99; Mar 9, 2019 at 9:59 pm
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 10:06 pm
  #952  
 
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 8:58 am
  #953  
 
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Originally Posted by opus99
Just to give a general update and what I think is going to happen here.

So BA's A350 has just been moved to station 40 of the production process which means the tail fin and the wings are now being installed. First picture of the tail fin is out. (All over twitter)

Now once station 40 is done the aircraft will be moved to station 30 to get the new seats installed. Now at this point I believe BA will announce the seat because it is essentially no longer behind closed doors as it's now being installed.

(Would've posted a picture myself but I'm not yet allowed to post URLs)
Not necessarily (unless you know something i don't). More complex seat installs are often done in Station 20, which is the last one before the plane comes out for flight testing.

BA also takes delivery of some aircraft without seats as it prefers to install them themselves. Anyone know if this is happening with the A350?
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 5:03 pm
  #954  
 
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Any idea what routes these will fly on?
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 2:49 am
  #955  
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Has there ever been a time before when BA and Virgin have launched 'once in a generation' new seats within a few weeks of each other? This is going to be quite a historic few weeks. No guarantee I'll live long enough to see the next iteration of CW / Upper given the 20 year lifespan of the current one!
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 4:40 am
  #956  
 
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Originally Posted by DG55
Any idea what routes these will fly on?
I think there are a lot of people here waiting with bated breath for the answer to this!

To me it's probably going to be the most competitive East Coast routes at first where they'll make a difference to the attractiveness of BA in a very competitive market (BOS? EWR?). Helps counter VS too, of course, which BA seem to like. It needs to be business traveler heavy routes where BA can charge a bit of a premium for the (presumed!) lost density and also the fact that the East Coast is a 6-7 hour flight that maximizes utilization is surely a plus too. I think it would be weird for JFK to be on the list at first though as BA are then risking cannibalizing demand for the one route where F probably actually makes decent money. Can see it going to DXB/AUH early too, since BA's lunch is being well and truly eaten on those flights (EK just announced their 11th daily flight to London this morning for those who haven't seen that yet). I could be totally wrong, though!
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 4:41 am
  #957  
 
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Originally Posted by Raffles
Has there ever been a time before when BA and Virgin have launched 'once in a generation' new seats within a few weeks of each other? This is going to be quite a historic few weeks. No guarantee I'll live long enough to see the next iteration of CW / Upper given the 20 year lifespan of the current one!
Any inside scoop on the VS seat? The new Delta One seat, or another dullo, foot coffined, reverse herringbone style effort?
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 4:49 am
  #958  
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Originally Posted by Cap'n Benj
Any inside scoop on the VS seat? The new Delta One seat, or another dullo, foot coffined, reverse herringbone style effort?
Absolutely no idea. Will find out in 3 weeks.
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 5:01 am
  #959  
 
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Originally Posted by Raffles
Absolutely no idea. Will find out in 3 weeks.
Its impressive in this day and age that both companies have managed to keep things so well under wraps
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 6:54 am
  #960  
 
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Originally Posted by DG55
Any idea what routes these will fly on?
Actually I was thinking about that, and in a fully speculative way: I find it interesting that the new seats will probably won't be on BA's flagship route (LHR-JFK) for a while since so many of the flights are on 747's. And since the A350s don't have F, they won't be used on the JFK route either. Will they retro-fit 777s first and risk customer backlash for having an inconsistent seat on their most regular route?

Interested in other people's thoughts...
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