Delta on Monday unveiled its first retrofitted Boeing 777 on
a flight from Detroit to Beijing. The airline intends to update all 18 of its
777s by the end of next year.
The retrofitted 777 features the all-suite Delta One
business class as well as the Delta Premium Select cabin, which bridges the gap
between the carrier's business class and coach products. Delta introduced
Premium Select and the all-suite Delta One cabin last November when it put its
first Airbus A350 into service. The carrier now has nine A350s in the air.
The reconfigured Delta 777-200ER that took flight Monday has
a total of 296 seats, including 28 Delta One suites and 48 Premium Select
seats. The 220 coach seats are laid out nine across --bucking a trend in which
carriers have increasingly gone to a 3-4-3 configuration in the coach class of
Boeing 777s. Notably, American and United both fly at least some of their 777s
with a 10-across configuration in the economy cabin.
Delta's Premium Select cabin on the retrofitted Boeing 777.
The plane's 296 seats are five more than the 291 Delta would
have previously offered on the aircraft, according seat charts on the website
SeatGuru by TripAdvisor.
Delta divided its Boeing 777 fleet between 10 777-200LR and
eight 777-200ERs. The LR (long-range) variant can fly further than the EX
(extended-range) option.