Virgin Atlantic’s A350 aircraft will offer a new ‘social space’ called The Booth, for Upper Class passengers on leisure services.
Travellers on the Heathrow-Orlando route will be the first to see the new space.
There will be one booth per aircraft, offering lounge-style seating for two, plus two 27-inch touch-screen monitors, with content tailored to the route and time of day.
Initially, the content will include a digital art gallery and a tail and belly-cam of the aircraft.
The first flight with The Booth is currently scheduled for December 2021. Other leisure destinations, including Barbados, will receive the new plane later in 2022.
A spokesperson for the airline said the cost will be part of the Upper Class fare and there will be more details about how customers will be able use it within the next month.
The new seat configuration on leisure services with the A350 features will offer 397 seats in total: 16 Upper Class suites, 56 Premium seats and 325 in Economy.
Within the economy cabin, 45 seats will be Economy Delight, offering customers extra legroom as well as priority boarding and advanced seat selection.
Corneel Koster, chief customer and operations officer at Virgin Atlantic, said: “We’re famous for our on-board social spaces and the introduction of The Booth elevates the customer proposition for our leisure travellers to new heights.”
The first aircraft in the airline’s A350 leisure fleet will be G-VEVE, named Fearless Lady, after Eve Branson, late mother of Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson.
Lady Emmeline (G-VLIB), which is inspired by the leader of the women’s suffrage movement Emmeline Pankhurst, will follow in April.
The A350 is designed to be 30% more fuel and carbon efficient than the Boeing 747s it replaced.