British Airways Refreshes First Class Service, but Its New A380 Suite Still Isn’t Flying

On October 1, 2026, British Airways began rolling out a refreshed First Class “soft product” across its long-haul fleet, starting from its Heathrow hub. New serviceware, bedding, pyjamas and amenity kits replace items the airline has used for years, alongside a menu update that keeps the traditional Afternoon Tea service.

The changes were first reported by Paddle Your Own Kanoo and corroborated by Aviation A2Z; British Airways has not detailed the new suppliers publicly. The outgoing items include Studio William cutlery, William Edwards china, Dartington glassware and Temperley London sleepwear.

A new suite that still isn’t flying

The soft-product refresh is separate from British Airways’ bigger project: a new First suite the airline unveiled in November 2024, with a sliding privacy door, a 32-inch 4K screen and a 79-inch bed set inside a 60-inch curved wall. “We’re incredibly proud to launch the next era of First that pushes the boundaries of comfort, luxury and modernity,” Chief Customer Officer Calum Laming said at the time.

Collins Aerospace built the seat itself, with London’s Tangerine Design Consultancy, Glasgow leather maker Muirhead and Dublin’s Botany Weaving contributing to the interior, the airline said. Center suites can also open into each other for a shared space BA calls “buddy dining.”

That suite has not carried a passenger yet. The first Airbus A380 getting it, registration G-XLEC, flew from Heathrow to Manila on August 9 for the retrofit and was still there in late September, according to Aerospace Global News, which also reported that British Airways is cutting its A380 flying by 28% this winter, dropping the type from Los Angeles and Dubai, while the retrofit works through the fleet. British Airways has said only that the first retrofitted jet should enter service later in 2026.

Retrofitting a dozen superjumbos one at a time explains the gap between the 2024 unveiling and an actual passenger flight: each aircraft loses weeks of flying while its cabin is stripped and rebuilt, and only one jet can start the clock. First shrinks from 14 suites to 12 on the retrofitted jets, while the business cabin grows to 110 Club Suite seats, more than the business sections on Lufthansa (68), Qantas (70) or Singapore Airlines (78) A380s, Simple Flying reported.

Once the A380 fleet is done, the same suite is due to become standard on British Airways’ 24 Boeing 777X jets on order, which are not expected to arrive before 2027, years later than Boeing originally promised.