We’re seeing quite some nice improvements to the long haul business class products of major airlines in the United States. We recently saw American introduce its new Flagship Suite business class, and United is also rolling out its new Polaris business class, and next up it’s Delta’s turn.
While we’ve had a good sense of what to expect thanks to leaks from JonNYC, Delta has today officially unveiled its new business class product, which will debut on the upcoming Airbus A350-1000. With United stealing the limelight as of late with passenger experience innovations, it’s nice to see something from Delta. Separately, I covered how Delta announced plans to retrofit its A330ceos.
Delta installing VantageNOVA seats on A350-1000s
Delta has 20 Airbus A350-1000s on order, which will eventually be the carrier’s flagship aircraft. Not only will this be Delta’s largest aircraft, but it’s also expected to be the most premium configured plane. Unfortunately at this point, we’ll have to wait until 2027 for the first of these aircraft to be delivered.
So, what can we expect onboard? Delta has now officially announced that its upcoming A350-1000s will feature its next generation business class suite, based on the Thompson Aero VantageNOVA product.
Around 50% of the seats onboard Delta’s new A350-1000s will be premium seats. The plane will feature 314 seats, including 53 business class seats, 48 premium economy seats, 51 extra legroom economy seats, and 162 regular economy seats. This will be the most business class seats Delta has ever installed on an aircraft (though still short of the 64 business class seats United has on its new 787-9s).
It makes perfect sense that this is the seat that Delta is going with, given that Delta already has a close partnership with Thompson Aero for its business class seats (the A350-900s have the Thompson Aero Vantage XL product).
Like many new products nowadays, the VantageNOVA product is pretty flexible. The way Delta is taking delivery of this, the entire cabin will be in a 1-2-1 layout, with reverse herringbone seats (meaning window seats will face toward the windows, and center seats will face toward the center).
The VantageNOVA product was unveiled in 2024, and isn’t yet in service. At the time, Thompson Aero indicated that it had a launch customer, though that customer hadn’t been disclosed. Now it’s pretty clear that Delta was that mystery customer.
When it comes to cabin features, what can we expect from Delta’s new business class?
- The new bed is around 3″ longer than the previous Delta One business class suite bed, so it should be just under 80″ long
- When it comes to tech, the seat has a 24″ 4K OLED monitor (the largest you’ll find at any US airline), bluetooth connectivity, and USB-A, AC, and wireless charging capabilities
- Seats also have storage for shoes, a phone tray under the armrest, and an exposed storage area, but not actually any enclosed storage
- Seats have a pillow-top cushion that adds a layer on top of the memory foam cushioned seat
- Thompson Aero promotes how this product has great efficiency and density, and these seats can be installed with as little as 40″ of pitch
- Interestingly, while Thompson Aero claims there’s the possibility of a “business class plus” product with these seats, there’s no mention of that from Delta; we’ll see if there’s more news there, or if Delta just opted not to offer such a product
- The cabin will have a snack bar by the second set of doors, with drinks and snacks that passengers can help themselves to
My take on Delta’s new business class seat choice
What’s interesting is that American and United are both in the process of rolling out a new business class as well, and they’ve selected exactly the same seat — the Elevate Ascent product. But like many airplane seats, there’s lots of flexibility for customization.
What should we make of Delta’s new business class seat? I’d say it looks very similar to the Elevate Ascent product. Both are intended to be efficient, and offer the option of a combined herringbone and reverse herringbone configuration (though Delta, like American, has gone for an all reverse herringbone layout). Still, it’s hard to know comfort level for sure, since this product isn’t yet in service with any airline.
I think we’ve reached the point now where business class seats aren’t actually getting much more comfortable, but instead, it’s just about whether they have a door, and how good the seat tech is (entertainment screens, charging, bluetooth audio, etc.).
For that matter, what counts most is how many planes an airline has with its latest generation premium seats. Take Emirates as an example. Emirates has its amazing “Game Changer” first class, which was introduced in 2017… it has been installed on a total of nine(!!!) planes. So that’s an average of around one plane per year. At the current pace, the entire fleet may be reconfigured with the product by 2275!
So yeah, it’s great that we’ll see the first plane with this product enter service for Delta in 2027, and I question whether Delta will reconfigure any planes with the product (I doubt it, since this product can’t be retrofitted on A330s and 767s, and I doubt Delta thinks the investment is worth it on existing A350s).
Bottom line
Delta has just unveiled its new business class product that will be installed on upcoming Airbus A350-1000s, which will be delivered as of 2027. Delta plans to install reverse herringbone seats in business class, and will be the launch customer of the Thompson Aero VantageNOVA product.
As you might expect, this will offer much upgraded tech, ranging from bluetooth audio, to wireless charging, to huge entertainment screens. Purely in terms of personal space, I don’t think this product will be that remarkable, since airlines are pretty maxed out in terms of how much space they’ll allocate to each passenger.
What do you make of Delta’s new business class suites?