With report by Simple Flying

A massive retrofit programme by British Airways of its entire Airbus A380 aircraft fleet is set to be performed in the second half of 2025, according to parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) in its financial report detailing its performance for the first half. 

Per this report by Simple Flying, IAG, which also owns European carriers Aer Lingus, Iberia, Level, and Vueling said the retrofit exercise is a key part of its plans for the second half of the year.

The airline’s retrofit programme has long been known, with the deployment of a new first class cabin sitting at the heart of the planned Airbus A380 refurbishment. BA, a founding member of the oneworld airline alliance and one of an increasingly small number of legacy airlines to have a true first class product nowadays, has seen critics argue that other carriers’ business class cabins have caught up, leaving it hoping to right these wrongs with the refit.

Retrofit programme begins in coming months

According to present fleet data from ch-aviation, British Airways currently has 12 examples of the Airbus A380 at its disposal. While, at 11.3 years on average, they are far from the UK flag carrier’s oldest aircraft, they lack the freshness of newer widebodies from the A350 and Boeing 787 families. With this in mind, BA announced in November of 2024 that it would be refurbishing its superjumbo fleet.

At the time, BA expected the retrofitted quadjets to enter a new era of service in the middle of 2026. This aligns with the latest information from IAG, which has now confirmed as part of its H1 financial results report that aircraft retrofits involving the A380 (and BA is the only carrier in the group to fly the type) would commence in the second half of 2025. Simple Flying reached out to BA for more information.

First Class to the next level

According to IAG, “rebuilding and renewing [its] fleet” will account for around half of its gross capital expenditure of €3.7 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2025. This investment also concerns retrofits to aircraft from the Airbus A350 family at the group’s airlines, as well as the delivery of four A320neos, two A321neos, five A321XLRs, and one A350-900. H1 saw it receive 13 aircraft and undertake retrofits on Boeing 787s.

As for the refurbishment of British Airways’ Airbus A380s, which have 469 seats in four classes of travel according to current fleet data made available by aeroLOPA, the main goal of this project is to elevate the UK flag carrier’s first class offering. The airline plans for the new first class seats to be bigger and better than ever before, at 79 inches long, 36.5 inches wide, and with a 32-inch screen.

With mood lighting available, passengers will be able to make British Airways’ new first class feel like home, with additional privacy offered by “a cocooned 60-inch curved wall” that “still provides a spacious environment.” BA says that the product will “combine elegant design features, reflective of modern British luxury travel,” with “manufacturers from all corners of Great Britain and Ireland” consulted.

New A380 layout will be very premium-heavy

As great an aircraft as the Airbus A380 is, its sheer size means that it needs to be well-filled to be operationally viable, but this, in itself, can be a challenge. With this in mind, BA appears to be looking to reduce the overall capacity on its Airbus A380s with the retrofit, while tapping into increased demand for its premium cabins.

Indeed, Head For Points understands that the superjumbo’s new layout at the UK flag carrier will feature 12 or 14 first class seats, 110 in Club World business class, 84 in World Traveller Plus premium economy, and 215 in World Traveller economy class. This gives it a total capacity of either 421 or 423 seats (down from the existing total of 469), with only just over half of these being in the economy class section.

A key reason for this overall reduction in capacity will be the installation of British Airways’ larger Club Suites in the business class cabin. These feature a lower-density layout than the existing ‘yin-yang’ style configuration, and all of them offer direct aisle access, meaning the retrofit won’t just benefit first class guests.