Passengers searching for the best way to experience Business Class haven’t long to wait to see the next generation of Qatar Airways’ much-loved Qsuite – which the Doha-based carrier has appropriately dubbed the Qsuite Next Gen.
Qatar Airways has confirmed that it will officially unveil the Qsuite Next Gen at the Farnborough Airshow, which will take place between the 22nd and 26th of July.
The latest generation of the carrier’s long-haul Business Class product will form the centrepiece of the airline’s presence at Farnborough, although Qatar Airways isn’t giving too much away over what passengers should expect to see.
The airline did, however, tease on Wednesday that the Qsuite Next Gen will feature “further advancements in comfort, collaborative and social design elements and passenger dining experiences.”
What could that mean in practice? Well, Qatar Airways is likely to build in the latest device charging capabilities like USB-C and wireless charging, along with Bluetooth headphone functionality and potentially personalised mood lighting.
The Qsuite is already a pretty collaborative seat with a special quad design that allows four people to dine, work or socalise together if they book four centre seats together.
Could Qatar Airways, therefore, be looking at incorporating some sort of ‘buddy seat’ at all other seats, so that two people can dine, socialise or work together – a feature that has normally been reserved solely for First Class seats.
The original QSuite was unveiled nearly eight years ago at the ITB Berlin aviation event in 2017, and the seat has largely lived up to the hype perpetuated by former Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker.
One of the first Business Class seats to feature a sliding door for increased privacy, the Qsuite is a bespoke product made specifically for Qatar Airways.
The Next Gen version is also likely to be fully bespoke, although the airline will likely have pushed designers to reduce the hulking weight of the original Qsuite.
New CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer has also touted a brand new First Class, although this doesn’t appear ready to be shown off at Farnborough, although the media will likely be pressing Al Meer for more details, considering that he said the design was nearly 80% complete in March.
Qatar really doesn’t need a next generation QSuite. It needs to make sure that the QSuite is on all it’s planes, and that passengers expecting QSuites don’t wind up back in 1990s era business class. That should be it’s priority.