United Airlines is getting underway with rolling out the Polaris Business class suite. It's currently in the process of configuring it's first 787-8, with plans for roll out in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The first Polaris 787-8

According to United Airlines, the first of its Polaris makeovers for the 787-8 jet is already in progress. The airline is currently working on the first of its 12 787-8 aircraft which will have the upgraded cabin.

The first aircraft is registered as N27908 and, according to Sam Chui, arrived in Xiamen on 3rd October for its new suite. It is expected that the aircraft will be ready for service in a few weeks. That will see United sticking to its promise of fourth-quarter operation.

The airline expects its remaining 11 787-8 to also be fitted with Polaris by the first quarter of 2021. It also hopes its 25 787-9 aircraft will be kitted out by that time as well.

On its tracker, it states that the Polaris suite will start on the 787-9 in late 2019. United Airlines is also expecting 13 new 787-9 aircraft to be delivered next year. These aircraft will arrive with the Polaris cabins in place.

How will the aircraft be configured?

The 787-8 and 787-9 will be configured in slightly different ways.

The 787-8 will lose a number of business seats, dropping from 36 to 28. However, the 787-9 will retain all 48 business class seats in the Polaris update. Both aircraft will also have 21 Premium Plus seats.

Shifting deadlines

United Airlines seems anything but pessimistic about its chances of providing the Polaris suite on time. With progress underway and lots more to be done, it says by 2020 all the aircraft in its current fleet will be kitted out.

On its Polaris tracker, United said that between now and 2020 at least one aircraft with Polaris seating will be added every 10 days.

However, the airline took to Twitter on Friday 25th October announcing a different plan. under its hashtag #UnitedFlightPlan, it said:

"On average, every five days we’re adding an aircraft to our fleet with the all-aisle access United Polaris business class seat. Our fleet is +50% complete today and by this time next year, we’ll be at +90%. #UnitedFlightPlan #DreamPolaris"

Its Polaris revolution is ahead of schedule cutting the expected completion time in half. And we're not complaining that we'll get to experience the new Polaris sooner than we thought!

Polaris fleet progress

United has been hard at work for a while sorting its aircraft out with the luxurious cabins. It's already got 18 Boeing 777-300ER operating with the Polaris suite.

The airline also has 24 out of 38 of its 767-300ER completed with Polaris and another two aircraft in progress. 32 of the 51 777-200ER have been completed and three more are in progress. Nine of the 14 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft have been delivered with the Polaris cabin.

United says the rest of the aircraft it has not yet changed will be retrofitted throughout next year.

Are you happy to see the Polaris cabin on the 787-8 and 787-9? Will you be testing out the new suite? Let us know in the comments.