British Airways has unveiled a new first class seat which it says “pushes the boundaries of comfort”.

The seat was designed to give passengers a “modern luxury hotel feel,” the airline said.

It’s wider than existing seats in its highest-end cabin at 36.5 inches (92.7 cm), and longer when converted to a fully flat bed at 6 feet 6 inches.

Features include a 32-inch 4K entertainment screen, the ability to share the space with a companion and adjustable mood lighting with settings such as ‘relax’, ‘dinner’ and ‘cinema’.

Passengers will be “cocooned” with a 60-inch curved privacy wall, the carrier said.

The curves of the new First cabin were inspired by the wings of British Airways’ former Concorde supersonic airliner.

The seat will initially be installed as part of the airline’s Airbus A380 fleet upgrade and is expected to be in use from mid-2026.

Calum Laming, British Airways Chief Customer Officer, said: “We are incredibly proud to launch the next era of First which pushes the boundaries of comfort, luxury and modernity, taking into account customer preferences and expectations in the smallest details. »

He added that the “world-class” seat, on-board service, priority check-in areas and access to “award-winning lounges” will create a “winning combination to deliver an extraordinary experience” for first-class ticket holders. .

The seat will be manufactured by Northern Irish company Collins Aerospace.

Rhys Jones, aviation editor at frequent flyer site headforpoints.com, said it “looks very smart” and is “a good improvement on the existing seat”.

He told the PA news agency: “I love the blue and beige finishes. There are some nice touches like homages to BA’s heritage with the Concorde.

“It’s a full width front seat, so hopefully that will give you a bit more of a feeling of space and it means you have a full rectangular bed rather than a slightly angled bed, so some sleep-wise, this should help a lot.”

He said the seat “is not going to compete” with what is offered by carriers such as Etihad and Singapore Airlines, but that British Airways’ first class tickets are “more reasonably priced than the truly ultra-luxurious.