Delta Unveils Sleek New Airplane and Suite Design; Improvement plans for old and outdated cabins.

It’s been nearly a decade since Delta Air Lines raised the bar for American business class with the debut of its sleek Delta One cabin. With lie-flat beds and sliding privacy doors, Delta One cemented in-flight suites as the new industry standard at the front of the plane.

Now, as Delta has eyed its two main rivals They step up their game in the front cabin.The Atlanta-based airline is not standing still.

Delta on Monday announced what it bills as its next-generation Delta One product, which will debut next year on the airline’s newest aircraft: the Airbus A350-1000.

This aircraft, arriving in 2027, will be Delta’s most premium yet.

Delta One suites will not only have a new design and features: there will be 53, 33% more than you will find on any Delta aircraft today.

The A350-1000s themselves will also be equipped with the airline’s latest technology, including stylish seatback displays. has been teasing for over a year.

But for loyal Delta travelers, the arrival of this high-end aircraft might actually be the second biggest news of the day.

That’s because the airline also announced that a major (and much-needed) upgrade for some of its most aging long-haul aircraft is finally imminent.

Here’s everything you need to know about the changes the airline announced for its fleet.

Delta’s new Airbus A350-1000

Delta’s new A350-1000 will feature a whopping 101 premium seats across the airline’s premium economy and business class cabins.

For aviation enthusiasts keeping track, that’s two more than United Airlines will offer in its new and luxurious Boeing 787-9 “Elevated” Dreamliner (which, by the way, will arrive in Singapore starting next week).

This is how the cabins of this Delta plane break down.

A ‘new’ Delta One

The biggest improvement over previous Delta aircraft on this A350-1000 will be the next-generation Delta One suites, which will be a step up, executives say, over the existing business class flagship that has been a repeat winner of the TPG Awards.

“It’s an optimization of an already great product,” Mauricio Parise, Delta’s vice president of brand experience, told TPG, “really creating the next generation of products for our [widebody planes] That allows us to continue evolving.”

This is a brand new seat for Delta and its former Delta One seat manufacturer, Northern Ireland-based Thompson Aero Seating.

Expect many of the same amenities you’ll currently find on Delta One: reclining seats, sliding doors, wireless charging, and soft touches from products like Missoni bedding.

Seating will be arranged in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration, with the seats angled toward the windows.

But Delta’s new product will have some notable additions:

• The reclining seats will measure 83 inches, 3 inches longer than the existing configuration.
• According to Delta, the beds will also be more luxurious thanks to a top layer added to the seat cushion.
• Additionally, guests will find additional upgraded features such as a glasses hook, a shoe cubby, a bedside tray for your phone, and upgraded decorative lighting in the suite.

These suites will also feature 4K seatback screens that will measure 24 inches, the largest ever made by Delta.

Here’s how those screens compare to similar business class cabins from competitors.

‘Optimization’ of an award-winning product

A feature No mentioned for Delta’s A350-1000? An extra large business class row up front.

Increasingly, we have seen global airlines (rather than truly international first class) outfit their flagship aircraft. with an elevated business class row.

But it looks like Delta will be flying with this new “standard” Delta One offering. It’s possible (though not 100%) that you’ll also see these same suites later this year on future long-haul planes, like the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners just ordered.

Premium tourist and coach

Delta’s A350-1000s will feature six rows of Premium Select recliners arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration and equipped with 16-inch screens from Thales.

All seats, including those in the main cabin, will have Bluetooth connectivity with the seatback screens.

Exactly half of the seats on this plane will be regular economy class seats, a nod to how premium the plane is.

Where will Delta fly its Airbus A350-1000?

Where will these new planes fly? A long way.

The A350-1000 has a huge range of 8,700 nautical miles, so it is expected to be deployed to far-flung destinations.

“So we’ll see the Indies of the world that we hope will start flying, the Riads,” Parise said. “All those 12+ hour missions where the demand for premium seats is higher.”

Of note: Delta has not yet announced nonstop service to India, but has revealed plans to begin flights to India. capital of Saudi Arabia at the end of this year.

Modernizations are coming for the obsolete Airbus A330

There’s nothing like the “new airplane smell.”

But avid Delta travelers may be even more excited to know that the airline is finally moving forward with plans to update some of its most obsolete long-haul aircraft.

Starting in September, the airline will begin renovating the cabins of 42 of its Airbus A330-200 and -300 aircraft.

Notably, these A330s will finally get true Delta One suites: the existing Delta One product, not the one that will be on its A350s, although Delta plans to equip these pods with some of the latest features it’s planning for its newer A350s, such as pillow-top mattresses and more sophisticated technology.

Additionally, these A330s (along with the new A350s) will have walk-in refreshment stations.

They will also get a greater number of Premium Select and/or Comfort seats, depending on the aircraft.

These are planes that Delta once acquired through its acquisition of Northwest Airlines in 2008. A fixture on routes to Europe, South America and Hawaii, the cabins are a far cry from the experience the airline offers on its most modern planes.

“I think it’s a huge gap,” Parise said, acknowledging that some of these planes may have less than a decade of flight left, but that’s enough time, he said, to justify an upgrade.

“It’s easier to make a financial decision than to close your eyes and let the plane fly for seven, eight, nine years with the current product,” he said. “We chose not to do that. We made sure to keep the bar high.”

Looking forward

Delta now expects 90% of its Delta One seats to be suites with sliding privacy doors by 2030. One key exception: its Boeing 767-400s, which have relatively updated interiors, but no door. Its Boeing 767-300s are scheduled to be retired from the market in the coming years.