Close on the heels of launching its biggest ad campaign coinciding with a five billion pound investment programme, British Airways (BA) would soon introduce luxurious new first class flights on several major global routes.

While the plush First Class is available on Boeing 777 planes operating to Delhi and Mumbai, British Airways is now finalising installation of the new premium products on its fleet of Boeing 747-400s which would be operating to Moscow, Singapore and all Australian destinations from April-May 2012.

The airline had last month launched its biggest and a decade-long brand advertising campaign which coincides with a five-year programme of an investment of five billion pounds.

The British Airways chief executive Mr Keith Williams had said the investment would benefit customers from new aircraft, new economy and premium economy cabins, a revamped First Class, better lounges across the airline’s network and significant improvements at Gatwick airport in London.

By emphasising on its motto ‘To Fly. To Serve’, the airline resolved “to put the customer at the heart of everything it does”, he had said, adding that funds would be allocated to improve catering and introduce new technologies to make travel experience more comfortable and convenient.

Created at a cost of 100 million pounds, the new First Class cabins feature a redesigned suite with a flat bed 60 per cent wider than the current one and Egyptian cotton bed linen.

Each suite would have a personal wardrobe, a leather- bound writing desk that converts into a dining table, a new 15-inch in-flight entertainment screen and a ‘buddy seat’ that allows passengers to dine in pairs.

Taking inspiration from the private jet industry, each First Class flyer would have their own personal double window with electronic blind, a BA spokeswoman said.

A distinctive lighting system, designed to recreate the subtlety of natural light, has been introduced. The cabin mood lighting would gently change throughout the flight to reflect key times of the day, she said.

Another distinctive feature would be the in-flight entertainment screen of 15 inches, with each suite offering a USB charging point and RCA jack to enable customers to view content from their MP3 player on the main screen.

These passengers would be given the high quality Anya Hindmarch washbag containing amenities by REN, D R Harris & Co and Marvis and menus in line with the motto of ‘Care in the Air’, the spokesperson said.

“We have taken feedback from our customers and brought in all these changes in our First Class product. All these changes are being delivered now. We have even more plans for the future,” she said.

All BA flights to Australia via Singapore would feature this new product from March next year, while those to Moscow would have it from April, a spokesperson said, adding that the new First Class would also be available on its daily flights from Hong Kong.

As part of the investment programme, the spokesperson said that technology teams were “working to deliver more customer-friendly improvements to our website and applications.”

The airport team was also developing more services for premium customers, while the catering team was revamping the menus and the wines, she added.

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