Former Bmi Airbus A321 aircraft are to be refitted by British Airways with a new style Club World seat.
The narrow-body aircraft means BA will have to configure it in a staggered 1-2, 2-1 layout in order to have fully flat beds. Revamped aircraft will come online next year serving mid-haul routes including Heathrow-Tel Aviv.
A BA spokesperson confirmed that while the A321 business class cabin will offer fully-flat seating and will be marketed as Club World, the product will differ to that familiar to long-haul BA passengers.
The seat will be configured 1-2 in the first row, then 2-1 behind, and alternating in this way to the back of the cabin. Similar to seats launched by Finnair in 2009, the two seats positioned either side of the single seat in front of it will have their leg space under the side tables either side of the single seat.
No images are available of the new seat as yet, but BA said the Club World seats will be 78-inches when extended with a 45-inch pitch when not. New economy seats will have a 31-inch pitch and both classes will have the Thales i5000 on demand entertainment system.