Is Qatar's Qsuite business class about to get a little less private?
By David Flynn, February 22 2018
Qatar will lop a few inches off the height of its Qsuite business class doors in an evolution of the design for its forthcoming Boeing 777X fleet.
Speaking on the sidelines of the airline's launch of daily flights to Canberra, Qatar Airways CEO His Excellency Akbar Al Baker said the revision was based on the first round of feedback from the Boeing 777-300ER's Qsuite passengers.
“For the incoming Boeing 777Xs we will lower the current wall height of the suites by a few inches after receiving passenger input."
The partition on the first-gen Qsuites measures 135cm (53 inches).
The seating module itself will also be refined to reduce its weight to be "at least 22% lighter than the current Qsuite."
Qatar Airways expects to take delivery of its first Boeing 777-9 – the debutante model in the 777X line – in the first half of 2020.
As previously reported, a new version of the Qsuites is also being designed for the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet to be fitted from 2019, and the Airbus A380s from 2020.
"We cannot put the Qsuite on the upper deck of the A380 because of curvature of the fuselage," Al Baker told Australian Business Traveller, adding that the cabin width of the Boeing 787 is also incompatible with the current Qsuite design "because we have to narrow the seat, and we don’t want to do that."
Read more: Qatar Airways' next-gen Qsuites for Airbus A380, Boeing 787, 777X
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
14 Jan 2014
Total posts 340
I bet it will still be the best biz class seat 💺 flying well into the mid 2020’s
17 Mar 2017
Total posts 14
I really wish BA would get on board with Qatar for this and help the development of it with a variant for their future Club World. It seems to have similar densities to other direct aisle access business classes, but has innovative ideas and configurations more in line with Club World when it was first introduced. And by going in together with Qatar they would improve consistency between the two airlines and share development costs... and would put BA back at the top!!
10 Jan 2017
Total posts 5
The seat is awesome, although lowering the height of the walls I don’t believe is from customer feedback. The article goes onto say it reduces the weight of the suite by 22%...cost reduction feedback more like it!!
19 Jan 2018
Total posts 87
Seats are heavy, son. A square meter worth of privacy wall would weigh nothing in the context of the whole suite.
13 Sep 2016
Total posts 35
'Cost reduction' as nothing to do with this, cd1982. Weight reduction is everything because it means better fuel efficiency and better return on the cost of the ticket. The Qsuite is a very solid module and the lower walls won't change much weight, it will be more materials and construction. Look at SQ's new A380 business class seat, it's made from carbon fibre and so a lot lighter than metal seating and also I believe it's largely cast as a single piece which also reduces complexity.
10 Dec 2017
Total posts 6
Who cares design it so i can go on the 388
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