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Virgin Atlantic recently unveiled its impressive new Upper Class (Business Class) cabin that will debut on its new A330neo aircraft and at the same unveiling, the airline also gave us a look at what the Premium (Premium Economy) cabin will look like on the same aircraft.
Virgin’s A330neo Premium Economy
The Premium Economy cabin on the new Virgin Atlantic A330neo will offer 46 seats in a 2-3-2 layout which is excellent news for anyone traveling as as a pair.
All the seats in the cabin will come equipped with a calf rest…
…and all the seats except for the ones in the bulkhead will also offer passengers a footrest.
The footrest can be stowed so that it doesn’t diminish the legroom for passengers who want to stretch out.
All the seats in the cabin will be 18.5″ wide and with the exception of the bulkhead seats (which are more spacious), all of the Premium Economy seats will offer 38″ of pitch.
These are exactly the same dimensions as the Premium Economy seats on the Virgin Atlantic A350-1000s and that means that these seats are less spacious than the Premium Economy seats on Virgin’s A330-300s (which offer seats that are 21″ wide).
Like the equivalent seats on the airline’s A350s, 39 of these Premium Economy seats will offer 13.3″ IFE touchscreens…
…while the 7 seats in the bulkhead row will offer slightly smaller screens because they have to be stored in the armrests and not in the back of another seat.
All seats in the cabin will have access to universal AC power outlets and USB-A ports (the A330neo Upper Class cabin also offers USB-C ports)…
…and for the first time in a Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy cabin, some seats will have access to wireless charging.
The wireless charging will be located in the armrests of select seats and while passengers seated in the seat pairs on either side of the aircraft will share a wireless charging point, only two passengers will have access to wireless charging in the center seats.
Assuming that Virgin Atlantic will set out the A330neo Premium Economy cabin in the same way as it was displayed on the night of the unveiling, anyone wishing to sit in the center section and have access to wireless charging should avoid the center seats closest to the right side of the aircraft.
Overall, the Premium Economy cabin on the A330-900neo will be very similar to the Premium Economy cabin currently found on the airline’s A350s – aside from the fact that the A350s cabin is set out in a 2-4-2 layout and the fact that the A350s cabin is larger, the differences are subtle.
The A350 and A330neo offer Premium Economy seats with the same key dimensions, the same size IFE screens, the same tray tables, and the same access to AC and USB power, but the A350’s Premium Economy seats don’t offer access to wireless charging nor do they all offer calf rests.
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic expects to be taking delivery of its new A330-900neo aircraft towards the end of this year so there’s not long to wait before the seats described above will be opened up to bookings.
Virgin Atlantic hasn’t confirmed which routes will be getting the new aircraft once it’s fully integrated into its fleet, but we can probably expect to see it on a London – East Coast route in the first few weeks after delivery as the airline gets its cabin crews accustomed to its latest aircraft.
