The first A350 aircraft equipped with Iberia’s new business class seat with a sliding privacy door and extended bed has been delivered to the airline.
It is also the first A350 to have sidewalls that have been revised, resulting in a usable cabin that is four inches wider at armrest level.
According to prior reports this year, Airbus redesigned the cabin to allow for 10 economy seats across, but Iberia opted to maintain a nine across configuration, giving economy customers on the aircraft an additional 1cm of breadth each seat. All seats in business class have direct aisle access, new sliding privacy doors, and an electronically controlled divider that can be raised or lowered. The center or “honeymoon” seats also have these features.
Additionally, Iberia has managed to lengthen the fully flat business class bed by 5 centimeters compared to the older A350 models, and there is more storage room for personal items.
The headrests of the seats in premium economy now feature “wings,” and a new IFE remote control has a touchscreen navigation interface. A new stand that can retain and charge personal electronic gadgets has been added below the IFE screen and is now standard in economy seats.
Additionally, the aircraft has Panasonic’s IFE Next system, which has 4K resolution panels with night lighting to “prevent disturbing surrounding customers” and bluetooth connectivity for headphones.
The screens have been expanded from ten to twelve inches in economy and from twelve to thirteen inches in premium economy.
Six lighting conditions for different flight phases—wake up, meal, relax, sleep, boarding, takeoff, and landing—as well as contactless taps and surfaces constructed of antimicrobial materials are also improvements made across the entire aircraft.
By 2024, Iberia expects to get eight A350s with the upgraded cabins in total.
