United Airways has reached a reasonably thrilling milestone with regards to the provision of Polaris enterprise class seats…
United finishes reconfiguring 787s with Polaris cabins
United Airways’ remaining Boeing 787-9 has simply been flown to Xiamen, China, to be reconfigured with new cabins. Because of this efficient instantly, all United Boeing 787s in service function new Polaris cabins.
For context, United unveiled its new Polaris enterprise class idea again in 2016, however as is the case with so many airways, truly rolling out the product on a constant, widespread foundation, has taken fairly a while. For the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, United flies the 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10 variants:
- All Boeing 787-10s had been delivered to the airline with new Polaris seats, as these planes solely joined United’s fleet beginning in 2018
- For the 787-8s and 787-9s that weren’t delivered with the brand new seats, United reconfigured its first 787 with the brand new cabins in early 2020
- Whereas United’s plan was initially to reconfigure all 787s by the primary quarter of 2021, the pandemic delayed that fairly a bit
However anyway, that main milestone has now been reached, and at this level passengers booked on the 787 received’t have to fret a couple of final minute plane swap that might land them within the service’s previous enterprise class cabin.
How’s the remainder of United’s Polaris retrofit program going?
Roughly six years after the Polaris idea was introduced, United is lastly in a reasonably great spot with regards to consistency. At this level the one planes that may nonetheless be reconfigured with new cabins are the Boeing 767-400s. United has 16 of those in its fleet, and the plan is for them to all be reconfigured by the summer season of 2023.
Except the 767-400, at this level United has accomplished its Polaris retrofit program. The one factor to remember is that United has a subfleet of Boeing 777-200s which have the previous legacy United enterprise class product, that includes flat beds in a 2-4-2 configuration.
Nevertheless, these planes aren’t used for lengthy haul worldwide flights. Fairly they’re primarily used for prime capability home flights, together with hub to hub, in addition to to and from Hawaii. There aren’t any plans to reconfigure these planes.
Backside line
Going ahead, all United Airways Boeing 787s in service will function new Polaris enterprise class seats. This comes as the ultimate 787 with the previous cabins is within the technique of being reconfigured.
At this level United’s Polaris retrofit program is finished, except for the 767-400, as that challenge must be full by the summer season of 2023.
What do you make of United ending its 787 Polaris retrofit program?
