It’s been nearly a decade since Delta Air Lines raised the bar for U.S. business-class with the debut of its fancy private suites. With lie-flat beds and sliding privacy doors, Delta One cemented flying suites as the new industry standard at the front of the plane.
Now, as Delta has watched its two top rivals up their game in the front cabin, the Atlanta-based carrier isn’t standing pat.
Delta on Monday announced what it’s billing as its next-generation Delta One product, which will make its debut next year on the carrier’s newest plane: the Airbus A350-1000.
Set for arrival in 2027, this aircraft will be Delta’s most premium yet.
The Delta One suites won’t just have a new design and features — there will be 53 of them, 33% more than you’ll find on any Delta planes today.
The same A350-1000s will also be outfitted with the carrier’s newest technology, including the spiffy seatback screens the carrier has been teasing for well over a year.
But for loyal Delta flyers, the arrival of this high-end plane might actually be the second-biggest news of the day.
That’s because the airline also announced that a major (and badly needed) upgrade is finally imminent for some of its most outdated long-haul aircraft.
Here’s everything to know about the changes the airline announced for its fleet.
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Delta’s new Airbus A350-1000
Delta’s new A350-1000 will sport a whopping 101 premium seats between the carrier’s business-class and premium economy cabins.
For aviation enthusiasts keeping track, that’s two more than what United Airlines will offer on its luxe, new Boeing 787-9 “Elevated” Dreamliner (which, by the way, is Singapore-bound starting next week).
Here’s how the cabins break down on this Delta plane.
| Cabin | Seats |
|---|---|
|
53 suites |
|
|
48 recliners |
|
|
51 seats |
|
|
152 seats |
A ‘new’ Delta One
The biggest upgrade from past Delta planes on this A350-1000 will be the next-generation Delta One suites, which will be a step up, executives say, from the existing flagship business-class product that has been a repeat TPG Awards winner.
“It’s an optimization of a product that’s already great,” Mauricio Parise, Delta’s vice president of brand experience, told TPG, “really creating the next generation of product for our [widebody planes] that allows us to keep evolving.”
This is an all-new seat for Delta and its longtime Delta One seatmaker, Northern Ireland-based Thompson Aero Seating.
Expect many of the same bells and whistles you’ll currently find in Delta One: lie-flat seats, sliding doors, wireless charging and soft product touches like Missoni bedding.
The seats will be arranged in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration, with seats angled toward the windows.
But Delta’s new product will have some notable additions:
- The lie-flat seats will measure 83 inches, 3 inches longer than the existing setup.
- According to Delta, the beds will also be more plush thanks to a pillowtop layer added into the seat cushion.
- And, customers will find additional upgraded features like a glasses hook, a shoe cubby, a bedside tray for your phone and improved in-suite accent lighting.
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DELTA AIR LINES
These suites will also sport 4K seatback screens measuring 24 inches, Delta’s largest ever.
Here’s how those screens stack up against similar competitor business-class cabins.
| Product | Seatback screen size |
|---|---|
|
United’s extra-large Polaris Studios (found in the front rows of its new business-class cabins)
|
27 inches |
|
Delta’s next-generation Delta One Suites
|
24 inches |
|
United’s next-generation standard Polaris Suites
|
19 inches |
‘Optimization’ of an award-winning product
One feature not mentioned for Delta’s A350-1000s? An extra-large business-class row up front.
Increasingly, we’ve seen global airlines — in lieu of a true international first class — outfitting their flagship planes with an elevated business-class row.
But it appears Delta will ride with this new “standard” Delta One offering. It’s possible (though not 100%) that you may also see these same suites later this year on the future long-haul planes, like the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners it just ordered.
Premium economy and coach
Delta’s A350-1000s will sport six rows of Premium Select recliners arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration and equipped with 16-inch screens from Thales.
Every seat, including those in the main cabin, will have Bluetooth connectivity to the seatback screens.
Exactly half of the seats on this plane will be regular coach seats — a nod toward how premium the aircraft skews.
Where will Delta fly its Airbus A350-1000s?
Where will these new planes fly? A long way.
The A350-1000 has a huge range of 8,700 nautical miles, so expect it to be deployed to far-flung destinations.
“So you’re going to see the Indias of the world that we expect to start flying, the Riyadhs,” Parise said. “All those 12-plus hour missions where the demand for those premium seats are higher.”
We should note: Delta has not yet announced nonstop service to India, but it has revealed plans to start flights to the Saudi Arabian capital later this year.
Retrofits coming to outdated Airbus A330s
There’s nothing like “new plane smell.”
But avid Delta flyers may be even more enthused to know that the airline is finally moving forward with plans to upgrade some of its most outdated long-haul jets.
Beginning in September, the carrier will start nose-to-tail cabin refreshes for 42 of its Airbus A330-200 and -300 aircraft.
Most notably, these A330s will at last get true Delta One suites — the existing Delta One product, not the one that’ll be on its A350s, though Delta plans to outfit these pods with some of the latest features it’s planning for its newest A350s, like the pillowtop mattresses and the fancier technology.
Also, these A330s (along with the new A350s) will get walk-up refreshment stations!
They’ll also get a higher number of Premium Select and/or Comfort seats, depending on the aircraft.
These are planes Delta once got via its 2008 acquisition of Northwest Airlines. A fixture on routes to Europe, South America and Hawaii, the cabins are a far cry from the experience the carrier offers in its most modern jets.
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Delta Comfort on an existing Airbus A330-300. ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
“I think that’s a huge gap,” Parise said, acknowledging that some of these planes may have less than a decade of flying left in them — but that’s enough time, he said, to warrant a refresh.
“It’s easier to make a … financial decision to close your eyes and let the plane fly for seven, eight, nine years with the current product,” he said. “We choose not to do that. We ensure that we need to keep the bar high.”
Looking ahead
Delta now expects 90% of its Delta One seats will be suites with sliding privacy doors by 2030. A key exception: its Boeing 767-400s, which have relatively updated interiors — but no door. Its Boeing 767-300s are slated for retirement in the coming years.
