British Airways retrofits 12 A380s amid Boeing 777-9 delivery delays

British Airways has launched an extensive cabin retrofit across its entire fleet of 12 Airbus A380s. With the first upgraded aircraft entering service in the coming months, each superjumbo will receive over 35,000 new parts.

The reconfiguration dedicates the entire upper deck to business class, featuring 106 Club Suites with sliding privacy doors, full-flat beds, and direct aisle access. The main deck will house 12 new First class suites, first unveiled in 2024, equipped with 60-inch privacy walls and 2.0-meter beds. Upgraded seats and larger inflight entertainment displays will also be installed across World Traveller Plus and World Traveller cabins, alongside refurbished galleys and stairways.

This substantial investment extends the operational horizon of the double-decker fleet, for which no retirement date has been scheduled. The program addresses persistent delivery delays affecting replacement long-haul aircraft. British Airways ordered 18 Boeing 777-9s with 24 options in 2019 to replace older types such as Boeing 747s. However, Boeing has pushed back initial 777-9 deliveries to 2027. Despite logging over 4,800 flight-test hours, only roughly half of the required certification testing had been completed by mid-2026, forcing the carrier to rely on refurbished A380 capacity to maintain long-haul operations.