Update: British Airways has announced that the new Club World seat will be revealed tomorrow morning at approximately 9AM GMT.

British Airways is expecting the delivery of a shiny new Airbus A350 in July 2019. A source has revealed to Simple Flying that March 31st is the date that tickets go on sale. However, this has not been confirmed by the airline, so the date just a rumour at this stage.

What are the details?

Much like the release of a new smartphone, the carrier's travel partners have started to receive briefings on how to sell tickets for the new British Airways A350.

BA a350-1000
BA will take delivery of their first A350-1000 in 2019.

The first A350 route is rumoured to go on sale on the 31st March 2019. British Airways, as we know it, was founded on March 31st 1974, so this will notably fall on the 45th anniversary of the airline.

The cabin layout:

LOPA, which stands for Layout Of Passenger Accommodations is the first necessity when it comes to selling seats. Essentially a seat map, it is a physical diagram that shows where each seat is on board (A1, G2 etc). As well as this, it denotes areas such as the galley, bars, and toilets. Different Club World seats can sell for different amounts depending on where they are or if they are grouped together.

We have been informed the LOPA for passenger bookings show 10 rows of 1-2-1 for 40 seats in a single cabin. This is the same Club World seat count as the 3-class B777. This has not been confirmed by British Airways however, so we can't be 100% sure at this stage.

Club World seats A350
A mocked-up LOPA for the new Club World on the BA A350. A galley or toilets is expected around row 5 or 6. Photo: Simply Flying

The two Club World seats in the middle adjacent to each other are rumoured to be sold as a 'couples seat', with a 10% premium markup. The seats will fold to form a double bed.

The new Club World seat

After teaser photos of the new Club World seat were released yesterday, we are convinced that the seat British Airways has picked is the Stelia Solstys III seat by Stelia Aerospace. The seat is currently used by Singapore Airlines on their 787-10 aircraft, and Turkish Airlines will be installing it on their own 787s.

Although this has yet to be confirmed by the airline, if this seat is going to be used we are VERY excited! This business class seat, in our opinion, is the best business class seat on the market. In fact, we'd go as far as to say it's on a par with the Qatar Qsuite. This seat will be game-changing for British Airways and will put the airline up there with Singapore Airlines' business class offering.

Singapore Airlines 787-10 Business Class. Photo: Singapore Airlines

The aircraft will also have an expanded Premium Economy section as well as an Economy class overhaul. This first A350 is not expected to have First Class on board (many airlines have actually fallen out of love with first class) but the category might return in later deliveries in the 2020s.

Update: British Airways will reveal their new Club World seat tomorrow morning at approximately 9AM GMT.

The first A350 routes

We expect British Airways' A350 aircraft to start flying in summer 2019. If you're keen, you should be able to buy tickets within the month! Most likely the plane will be flying between Heathrow and JFK, on British Airways' flagship route. Or it could perhaps fly on a route where first class does not exist, for example, London Heathrow to Bangkok.

We expect the British Airways social media team to continue to tease us over the next two weeks with the A350. I personally think this could be the best year in British Airway's history, with new aircraft, new cabins and a £6.5billion investment plan, it's all very exciting!

Don't forget to subscribe to Simple Flying to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!