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American Airlines to Retrofit Boeing 787-8s with New Flagship Suites, Expanding Premium Business Class
American Airlines plans to upgrade 20-seat business class cabins on Boeing 787-8s with new Flagship Suites, improving premium seating consistency across its widebody fleet.
The gist
American Airlines is bringing luxury Flagship Suites to its Boeing 787-8s, addressing limited premium seats and outdated cabins on these planes.
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American Airlines is embarking on a significant overhaul of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners by introducing new Flagship Suites in the business class cabins. Currently, these aircraft offer only 20 business class seats with older seating products, making them less competitive on premium transatlantic routes such as flights to London Heathrow. The move aims to standardize the premium experience and increase seat count to better meet market demands.
The 787-8s have employed a mix of older front- and rear-facing ‘Concept D’ seats along with some Super Diamond seats, leading to inconsistency in passenger comfort and amenities. This contrasts with newer American widebodies like the Boeing 787-9 and 777-300ER, which are being updated with cutting-edge Flagship Suites featuring sliding doors, providing passengers privacy and comfort expected from premium cabins.
American Airlines’ broader fleet modernization has included refreshing Boeing 777-300ERs by removing first class and standardizing on Flagship Suites across business class. The Boeing 777-200ERs are also slated for a similar retrofit program, extending their operational life by postponing costly new aircraft purchases, as confirmed by CEO Robert Isom, who recently announced the upcoming 787-8 refresh.
The airline’s previous strategy under US Airways leadership focused on limiting business class capacity, operating under the belief that higher premium seats only sold through deep discounting. However, the industry's shift towards premiumizing leisure travel and maximizing revenue streams on high-demand transatlantic routes has pushed American to reverse course and invest in superior premium seating options.
American Airlines has simultaneously enhanced its premium economy product. Its latest Boeing 787-9s feature 51 Flagship Suites, 32 premium economy seats with improved footrests, and a redesigned coach cabin, presenting a comprehensive elevation of passenger experience. Similar steps have been taken on narrowbody Airbus A321XLR aircraft, which feature business class suites with doors and premium economy, serving important cross-country and transatlantic routes from the Northeast.
The updates to 787-8s address both capacity and quality issues, as the current 20-seat business class configuration limits revenue potential and passenger comfort. American’s decision breaks from earlier trends of minimizing business class seats to focus on lower fares, reflecting changing market dynamics where premium cabins drive profitability.
In addition to seating, the airline is improving onboard amenities like Wi-Fi connectivity, highlighted by plans to replace Panasonic with Viasat systems on Boeing 777-200ERs, aligning with technological upgrades throughout the fleet. Such comprehensive refurbishments reflect a holistic approach to fleet renewal without incurring the higher costs of wholesale aircraft replacements.
These investments come amid American’s efforts to delay billions in capital expenditures by extending the lifetime of older jets, including the 777-200ERs, through refurbishments and technology upgrades. By upgrading the 787-8 business class cabins with Flagship Suites, the airline addresses competitive pressures on lucrative international routes and recalibrates its premium product strategy to current passenger expectations.
The 787-8 retrofit marks a pivotal step in harmonizing American Airlines’ premium cabin offerings across its fleet. It signifies a departure from older, smaller business class cabins and outdated seats towards a uniform, upmarket travel experience that can support sustained revenue growth in the evolving premium aviation market.
Frequently asked questions
- What business class seating changes is American Airlines making on its Boeing 787-8 aircraft?
- American Airlines is retrofitting its Boeing 787-8 aircraft with new Flagship Suites business class seats, replacing older seating models and increasing the premium seat count from the current 20 seats.
- Why is American Airlines upgrading the 787-8's business class cabins now?
- The current 787-8 business class cabins have limited seats with older designs, which do not meet the demand or premium standards for lucrative international routes like those to London Heathrow, prompting the upgrade.
- How does the 787-8 retrofit fit into American Airlines' broader fleet modernization?
- The 787-8 retrofit aligns with a wider strategy including retrofitting 777-300ERs and 777-200ERs with Flagship Suites, extending aircraft service life, and standardizing the premium product across multiple widebody aircraft to enhance passenger experience and revenue.
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Singapore Airlines Offers 30% Discount on KrisFlyer Awards Including US Premium Economy Flights
Singapore Airlines offers its monthly KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes promo, whereby you can receive a 30% discount on award tickets in select markets. This is a fantastic opportunity to save on award flights on one of the world's best airlines . There are several opportunities to save miles on tickets in economy, premium economy, and business class. For this month we're actually seeing a pretty good list, especially if you enjoy premium economy, as there are a handful of options to and from the United States. Let's go over the details. Book discounted Singapore Airlines awards Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer program offers monthly " Spontaneous Escapes " deals, where there's a list of flights that can be booked at a 30% discount when redeeming miles. KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes award promo Presumably Singapore Airlines is primarily discounting flights that aren't anticipated to be full, and where there's a lot of award availability. This can be a really useful promotion. One major restriction to note is that Spontaneous Escapes awards can't be changed or canceled once booked (they don't follow standard KrisFlyer policies ), so you'll only want to ticket these if you're positive you're traveling. KrisFlyer has just published its latest Spontaneous Escapes list , which has a fair number of destinations on it, all for travel on Singapore Airlines. This is valid for bookings through July 31, 2026, and for travel between August 1 and August 31, 2026. I'd recommend checking out the full list, but just to give you a sense of some of the discounted awards that are available (pricing is one-way, and in some cases the sale only works in one direction of travel): Singapore to Bali, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Medan, and Surabaya, is available for 15,400 miles in business class Singapore to Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and Phuket, is available for 17,500 miles in business class Singapore to Hangzhou and Hong Kong is available for 24,850 miles in business class Singapore to Ahmedabad, Beijing, Chennai, Colombo, Dhaka, and Shanghai, is available for 31,500 miles in business class Singapore to Cairns is available for 50,400 miles in business class Singapore to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, is available for 55,300 miles in premium economy Los Angeles to Tokyo is available for 56,350 miles in premium economy New York to Singapore is available for 59,150 miles in premium economy Los Angeles to Tokyo is available for 79,800 miles in business class The restrictions for taking advantage of the offers vary by destination. Some destinations are restricted to specific flight numbers, and others are restricted to specific dates, but there's great value to be had across the board. As you can see, this time around there are a good number of options to and from the United States, including one in business class, and several in premium economy. Singapore Airlines premium economy How to earn Singapore KrisFlyer miles If you're interested in booking one of these flights but don't have KrisFlyer miles, the good news is that Singapore KrisFlyer is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards , Capital One , Chase Ultimate Rewards , and Citi ThankYou , so there are lots of easy ways to earn points that can be redeemed for these flights. Singapore Airlines makes most premium cabin award space available exclusively to members of its own KrisFlyer program, so many of these are flights that you couldn't book with partner airline miles. However, some partners, including Air Canada Aeroplan , do have access to some long haul Singapore Airlines premium award space. Singapore Airlines business class Bottom line Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has published its latest Spontaneous Escapes promotion. With this new list, you can save on business class, premium economy, and economy award redemptions. There are some good deals to be had — for those in the United States, there's one option in business class, and several options in premium economy, so that's much better than usual. Are there any KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes awards that you plan to take advantage of?
Avianca Launches Premium INSIGNIA Business-Class on New York Dreamliner Flights
Avianca announced: As part of its ongoing efforts to diversify its offerings and exceed traveler expectations on high-demand routes, Avianca, a member of Abra Group, announced today that its INSIGNIA business-class experience will be available on flights to and from New York operated with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Passengers can now purchase this service, and the […]
Airbus to upgrade A321neo with A321XLR wing design and single-slotted flaps
Airbus to incorporate batch of improvements on popular single-aisle model, and test production maturity of some on A320neo line. Airbus is to migrate A321XLR technology – including its revised wing design – to the A321neo, while other enhancements for the single-aisle family will initially be applied to the A320neo before being transferred up to the larger variants. The long-range XLR includes a lighter wing with a single-slotted inboard flap, and this will be incorporated into the regular A321neo, which currently uses a double-slotted design. A321neos will take advantage of a take-off performance improvement system which introduces intermediate flap positions, and works in conjunction with the single-slotted flap arrangement. The changes are part of a package of incremental improvements known as STEP4. A321neos will also benefit from new flight-control laws, the lighter electronic ‘e-rudder’, forward cabin temperature zones, and updated multi-functional runway lights. Head of A320-family development Torsten Hartung says the airframer is putting the "good ingredients" from the XLR onto the popular A321neo platform – the A321neo had a backlog of over 5,600 orders at the end of June. But the STEP4 enhancement will also entail new modifications which Airbus is to apply initially to the A320neo, as a low-risk measure to ensure production maturity before transferring them to the higher-rate A321neo, including the XLR variant. The A320neo will notably receive a new 'cobra' duct for the auxiliary power unit – mounted in the top of the fuselage, and aimed at enhancing cabin air quality – and corrosion-prevention measures such as titanium cabin rails. "The baseline A320neo is the first model to incorporate and prove the new modifications," says STEP leader for A320 family programme development Martin Schnoor. “Where we physically change the aircraft we decided to apply it first on A320neo in order to learn and see how well things are going." Once integration on the A320neo line is smooth, the new modifications will be made to the A321neo and XLR. Schnoor says deliveries of initial STEP4 A320neos are beginning, with the first A321neos and XLRs set to follow after a year. The A320neo has a different wing to the A321neo, but Airbus is ultimately aiming to migrate as many XLR innovations, outside of wing-related changes, to the A320neo as it can. Airbus says STEP4 will also eventually deliver further enhancements across the family, such as cabin-floor reinforcement, to account for changing standards in the weight of passengers and baggage, and a standardised flight data interface and management unit.
Why Allegiant Air Operated Boeing 757s to Reach Hawaii and Beyond
US-based ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Air is primarily known today for operating widebody twinjets from the Airbus A320 series. In fact, until recently, the airline had been an all-Airbus operator for several years, before its deliveries of the Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 began. However, prior to this spell, did you know that Allegiant Air also flew larger aircraft in the form of the 757 during the 2010s?
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