Fiji Airways Reveals New A350 Business Class (Coming To Los Angeles)

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Earlier this year Fiji Airways and Airbus let it be known that it would be taking delivery of two Airbus A350-900 aircraft in the latter part of 2019 and that the new aircraft would come fitted with an all-new lie-flat Business Class cabin as an enhancement to the angle-flat Business Class seats the airline currently offers.

At the time that the news broke Executive Traveller managed to confirm that the new A350 Business Class cabin would incorporate the Collins Aerospace (B/E Aerospace) Super Diamond seat that is currently used by the likes of Qatar Airways…

…and American Airlines (on select 777 aircraft)…

…but not much else was known about the cabin.

Now we know a little more.

With the two new Airbus 350-900 aircraft dues to be delivered in November and December, we have now been our first renderings of the new Fiji Airways A350-900 Business Cabin.

I’ve flown in the B/E Aerospace Business Class seats quite a few times and, on the whole, I’m a fan.

Some passengers complain that there isn’t enough space in the footwell once the bed is in lie-flat mode but, other than that, the reviews of this seat are generally very positive.

The color scheme that Fiji Airways has chosen reminds me a little of the color scheme Finnair installed in its A350’s Business Class cabin and I’m not convinced that it’s going to age well.

Light colors are great for helping an aircraft cabin feel bright, airy and spacious, but they’re not very good at masking any marks or imperfections that are bound to appear as the seats get regular use.

Don’t misunderstand me, I think the cabin looks very nice and very high-end and the new product is a big step up from the 2-2-2 angle-flat cabin that you’ll find on Fiji Airways A330 aircraft…I just worry that it will start to look shabby rather quickly.

Fiji Airways A350 First Routes

The new A350 was originally expected to enter service on 1 January 2020 but things appear to be moving along quicker than expected and the new aircraft is now set to debut on Fiji Airways’ route to Sydney from 1 December 2019.

Fiji Airways A350 Nadi – Sydney Schedule from 1 December 2019:

FJ911 NAN 09:35 – 12:05 SYD (Daily)
FJ910 SYD 13:20 – 19:05 NAN (Daily)

The new A350 will also appear on Fiji Airways’ route to Los Angeles from 21/22 December 2019…

FJ810 NAN 22:30 – 11:25 LAX (alternate days)
FJ811 LAX 21:30 – 05:15+2 days NAN (alternate days)

…and, briefly, on Fiji Airways route to Auckland from 18 December 2019:

FJ411 NAN 08:40 – 11:40 LAX (alternate days)
FJ410 LAX 13:05 – 15:55 NAN (alternate days)

The current schedules show Los Angeles getting more frequent A350 service from January 2020 (up to 6 flights/week) and that appears to coincide with the end of A350 service to/from Auckland – it’s possible that the Auckland route is being used for crew orientation flights.

Bottom Line

The new Fiji Airways A350 Business Class cabin looks like it’s going to be a big step up from the current much older Business Class product but with only two A350’s in the Fiji Airways fleet, there will still be a lot of routes on which the angle-flat seats are the only option.

Still, as someone fortunate enough to have a base in LA I don’t need to worry about that 🙂

Featured image courtesy of Airbus