Qatar Airways developing new first class, QSuites business class: Report

15.03.2024 - 22:07 / thepointsguy.com / Mohammed Al-Meer / Airlines

Qatar Airways is developing a new first-class product to introduce aboard its aircraft, according to a new CNBC report.

The airline is also redesigning its award-winning QSuite, which has been broadly considered among the best business-class products in the world since its debut in 2017.

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New Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer, in an interview with CNBC on Thursday, said that the new cabins represented a shift in strategy to align with "a new era."

Al Meer took the top job at the airline group in November of last year, following the departure of CEO Akbar Al Baker after nearly three decades at the helm. He was previously the CEO of Doha's Hamad International Airport (DOH).

The new business class offering will debut at the Farnborough International Airshow, which is slated to run July 22-26 outside of London. It was not immediately clear when the first class cabin would be unveiled; Al Meer told CNBC that the design was "70-80%" complete and "hopefully we will be able to announce it very soon."

Qatar Airways currently offers a first-class cabin on its Airbus A380, which operates on some frequencies between the airline's Doha hub and Bangkok, Paris, London, Sydney and Perth, Australia.

Related: The ultimate guide to Qatar Qsuite

Qatar had planned to phase out the A380s under Al Baker, but Al Meer said the airline would keep the jets active.

The current first-class hard product, while more spacious than the business-class seats, is fairly dated compared to the offerings on Persian Gulf rivals Emirates and Etihad. It's also missing some features from the QSuites, including closing doors for added privacy.

There were no details available on what the new product would entail. Al Meer told CNBC that the airline was looking to build a product comparable to flying private.

"We wanted to combine the experience of flying commercial and flying on a private jet and develop something new," he said.

QSuites is available on some of Qatar's Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 aircraft. Other aircraft — including the A380, the Airbus A330, the Boeing 787 and some of the airline's 777s and A350s — have older business-class seats. However, they offer an identical "soft product" — or service items like food options, on-demand service and other amenities.

Close to perfect: Qatar Qsuite on a 777-300ER from Doha to New York JFK

Al Meer said that the airline is in talks with Airbus and Boeing for a "big" new aircraft order. However, it was not immediately clear whether the new first and business-class seats would be retrofitted on existing aircraft or only installed on newly ordered jets.

Qatar initially seemed inclined to phase out its