British Airways today presented £600 million worth of new products that will be introduced during the next two years.

The investment, which is the biggest of its kind in airline history, has been made possible by an internal efficiency and restructuring programme which the airline launched in 1996 and will be entirely funded out of existing budgets.

Today’s announcement is the result of extensive market research and work with leading product design experts. It builds on the airline’s strategy announced last year to focus on the most profitable segments of the market. For the airline’s customers, it will redefine travel for the 21st Century with the airline’s entire product portfolio being upgraded.

These new ground-breaking products, which will set benchmarks for comfort and design, include:
á a new cabin, World Traveller Plus, offering more space and facilities than other economy products, as well as a doubled hand baggage allowance. This makes British Airways the first major airline to offer four distinct cabins
á a ‘Lounge in the Sky’ featuring the world’s first fully flat bed for business class travellers who need to work and sleep in private on longhaul trips
á a totally refurbished Concorde
á revamped First cabins
á rollout of the new Club Europe
á upgrades to airport terminals, check-in and lounges, including a completely new terminal at New York JFK

Bob Ayling, British Airways Chief Executive, said: “On service, we said we’d deliver and we have. We asked thousands of our customers what we do well and where we need to improve. They want us to be the best in the world. So do we. The £600 million investment we are making will ensure that we are. The quality of service and choice that we will be able to offer is the product of our restructuring and all the immensely hard work that has been put in over the last three years by everyone who works for British Airways. It has been tough getting there but we have done it.”

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