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With a Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the tarmac at the Farnborough Airshow for visits, we jumped at the chance to get on board this relatively rare aircraft — Qatar has seven of them according to the Airfleets database — and check out the new Business Class (don’t call it Q-) Suite.

The doored mini-suite itself is a fairly stock version of Adient Aerospace’s Ascent product, down to the stock side lamp, layout of trim pieces, and shaping. That’s a surprising departure for an airline that has in recent years gone for fully customised — and indeed, with the Collins Aerospace Qsuite, exclusive — business class products. 

Ascent is a strong offering for the 787, principally as a result of the structure of the footwell. Here, the cubby is open to the sidewall of the aircraft, eking out critical extra space when in bed mode. It’s clear that substantial design, engineering and certification effort has gone into this, which makes a noticeable difference when the seat is fully flat, particularly on a smaller widebody like the 787, designed before direct aisle access for every passenger was de rigueur .

The footwell, open to the sidewall, really makes the seat stand out. Image John Walton

The cabin is laid out in a hybrid herringbone, similar to Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A350 business class. Seats by the window face out in an outward-facing herringbone, while the centre pairs of seats face towards the aisle in an inward-facing layout.

This layout is effective from a privacy point of view even without the door, since the fact that every passenger is effectively looking towards the windows means that any awkward eye-catching is minimised.

The walls are not as high as the Qsuite. Image: John Walton

Thanks to a centre divider that retracts to the level of the beds, seats in the centre pairs combine to create a kind of “kissing class” double, where passengers travelling together can say goodnight with their heads together. It’s cute, and a substantially better proposition for partner leisure travel than a herringbone facing into the centreline.

The aisle-facing herringbones achieve a “kissing class” in the centre pairs. Image: John Walton

Other positive notes include a smart mobile storage cutout with a retaining mechanism that neatly pulls the phone flush to the wireless charging pad. The size of this, slightly larger than a Pro Max-sixed iPhone, seems adequate for most passengers’ phones.

Wireless charging plus power sockets make for happy devices. Image: John Walton

There is risk, however: consider the experience of Cathay Pacific’s previous regional business class, where the (non-charging) phone slot was sized right before the larger screen revolution of the iPhone 6 Plus.

Will airlines regret choosing this size and shape of phone in five or ten-years? Image:John Walton

Soft product questions in your author’s mind include the “Mount Pillows” problem, where passengers are welcomed with a Qsuite amount of throw pillow, head pillow, wrapped duvet, amenity kit, and so on, but without a Qsuite amount of side surface on which to store it. This is solvable with service pacing out the presentation of these items, but will require thought.

This isn’t even all the soft product on offer. Mount Pillows will need managing. Image: John Walton

It was surprising to note the amount of visible wear on the seats, particularly in high-sight and high-touch areas like the top of the seat shrouding, and on the expansive horizontal surfaces at the front of the cabin.

Substantial wear on high-touch, high-visibility surfaces was surprising. Image: John Walton

Based on the aircraft’s FlightRadar24 history, it looks like it was performing packet freighter duties through August 2021 under QR8XXX cargo flight numbers before returning to service with regular flight numbers.

Your author isn’t entirely sure what to make of the doors 2 entryway into the aircraft.

On the one hand, the low bar area when turning left into business class is attractive and feels premium. On the other, the high bank of six storage cupboards dominates and indeed overwhelms the space.

It will be interesting to see how Qatar manages this in service: a well-placed greeting flight attendant in front of the storage unit could mask it, but with the abundance of attractive thermoplastics available to airlines, it feels like a missed trick.

The entryway is striking, but in a confusing sort of way. Image: John Walton

And at the front of the cabin, the enormous expanse of front row monument was frankly baffling, given that space is at a premium in the small galley ahead of the bulkhead wall — and there is no doors 2 galley on this aircraft.

Imagine what could have been done with this amount of wasted space… Image: John Walton

Boeing and Adient have done a great job integrating the seat into the cabin in terms of width, so the lack of elegant, space-saving and storage-improving integration at the front of the cabin in terms of length was very much a surprise.

Featured image credited to John Walton

Deputy Editor John Walton, an international journalist, contributes opinion and analysis to RGN’s Details + Design and Nose To Tail columns. He specializes in cabin interiors, seating, connectivity, and premium class service. A keen analyst of how developing tools can be applied to aviation news, John is at the forefront of social media in the aviation sector, broke the hijacking of... Read More