American Airlines Offers Lie-flat Business Class Seats

American Airlines has announced that as part of its  redesign of its international widebody fleet – Boeing 777-200ERs and 767-300s – AA will offer fully lie-flat Business Class seats, all with aisle access.

In addition to the fully lie-flat Business Class seats, American will also offer international Wi-Fi, in-seat entertainment and Main Cabin Extra seating onboard the 777-200ERs – making American among the first in the industry to offer this combination.

“This redesign will comprehensively improve our future international widebody experience through fully lie-flat all-aisle access seats, inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi, and will place our product among the industry leaders. This is something our people are excited to see as we work toward a new and modern American Airlines,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s chief commercial officer.

American’s entire fleet of 777-200ERs will be redesigned to a two-class cabin configuration to better match capacity and demand, AA said. Up to 45 new fully lie-flat Business Class seats will provide customers among the largest living spaces of any 777 Business Class seat offered by U.S. airlines.

The 777-200ER is intended to fly mid- to long-haul international markets in Europe, Asia and South America.

American also intends to retrofit up to half of its existing 767-300ER aircraft. Those that are redesigned will operate the new configuration with fully lie-flat Business Class Seats and all-aisle access. The remaining 767-300ERs that are not redesigned will be retired over time.

The redesign is slated to begin in early 2014. American said it is currently working to determine the installation timeline and will have more details on anticipated completion dates in the future, AA said.

As part of its international widebody strategy, American said it anticipates taking delivery of 10 Boeing 777-300ERs beginning at the end of 2012 through 2013. The 777-300ERs will be configured as three-class aircraft and include fully lie-flat First and Business Class seats, Main Cabin Extra, and Wi-Fi capability to keep customers connected while traveling internationally.

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