Virgin Atlantic Reveals A New Upper Class Suite—And It Fits Four Passengers

Virgin Atlantic has just launched the new Retreat Suite aboard its Airbus A330neo, the most spacious suite in the airline’s history.

There’s been a shift in business class design in recent years: business class is no longer the domain of just business travelers. Instead, the option has become increasingly popular for couples and families, sparking transformational design in the sector. The latest innovation comes from Virgin Atlantic. Today, the brand revealed their new Airbus A330neo, showing off not just a sleek new Upper Class cabin with social space but an exciting new product, The Retreat Suite.

The Retreat Suite is made up of two specially designed, individual suites at the front of the aircraft’s cabin. Each suite has an ottoman that acts as an extra seat, so that up to four passengers can dine or relax in the suite together, making this a great option for friends and families, as well as business travelers.

Unlike Qatar Airways’ Qsuite product, it’s not possible to fully connect the two seats and create a double bed; however, this is Virgin’s most spacious suite ever, and each seat converts to a 6-foot-7-inch, fully flat bed.

The remaining space in the A330neos Upper Class cabin is filled with 30 individual Upper Class suites. The seats are brand new: All face forward and feature a fully closing door with ‘do not disturb’ button. There’s also passenger-controlled mood lighting and a mirror—which is a simple, but absolutely fantastic feature. Individual suites have 17.3-inch touchscreen TVs, compared to the 27-inch TVs in The Retreat Suite.

Virgin’s famed onboard bar has always been a key feature for the brand’s Upper Class Space. The new A33oneos present a little twist on the concept with The Loft, a social space designed for eight people, with four booth-style seats, a self-service fridge and drinks dispenser.

Virgin Atlantic ordered 16 of these cleaner and greener aircraft, which will be replacing older A330-300s. The new product will be launching in Boston in early October with three aircraft. (Tickets are slated to go on sale this month). The new aircraft will be 11 percent more fuel and carbon efficient than the A330-300s and will deliver a 50 percent reduction in airport noise exposure. The remaining aircraft will be delivered from 2023 through 2026.