British Airways to fly Dreamliner to Abu Dhabi and Muscat

Abu Dhabi and Muscat passengers can look forward to flying on British Airways’ B787-9 Dreamliners to London this winter.

The Gulf cities have been included among the airline’s first destinations for its Dreamliner, although Delhi will be the aircraft’s launch destination from October 25.

BA’s B787-9s, the first of which is due to arrive in September, are 20ft longer than its 787-8 predecessor (of which the airline has eight), so as well as offering World Traveller (economy), World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and Club World (business class), there’s also room for a new First Class cabin – even if it has only eight seats compared with 14 on other BA long-haul aircraft.

The First Class suites include four new storage areas; a new ottoman next to the adjustable footstool has enough room for shoes, handbags and personal items, while the personal suiter for jackets and coats is now accessible without the customer having to move from their seat. A new locker positioned at eye-level is perfect for smaller personal effects such as tablets, spectacles, passport and wash-bags and a handy mirror has also been fitted to the inside of the locker door for personal grooming.

The seat and in-flight entertainment console has been updated with a new handset, much like a smartphone, integrated into the seat from which travellers can control their in-flight entertainment.

Although Etihad is the largest B787-9 customer, with 41 on order, it doesn’t operate the aircraft to London, preferring to fly its A380s. BA will take its chances competing with the double-decker, much as it operates its B777s/B747s through Dubai while leaving Emirates to scoop up A380 traffic, and compete with Oman Air’s A330-300s between Muscat and London. BA has 42 B787s on order (8 -8s, 22 -9s and 12 -10s).

Gulf travellers can also experience revamped B747 jumbos on select flights to Dubai, Kuwait and Riyadh from September, as well as New York JFK, Chicago, Lagos and Boston.