United will begin flying with its most premium business class product to date, the Polaris Studio, next month on a new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The Polaris Studio will formally debut April 22 on service between San Francisco and Singapore. The product will offer 25% more space than the standard Polaris pod, including an ottoman that can be used by a visiting companion. The Polaris Studio is the marquee feature of United's new premium-heavy Boeing 787.
On April 30, United will put the second of those new 787s into international service, using it on flights between San Francisco and London. Polaris Studio bookings for those flights went on sale March 19.
The Dreamliners are configured with eight Polaris Studio seats across the first two rows. They also have 56 standard Polaris business class pods, 35 Premium Plus premium economy seats and 39 Economy Plus extra-legroom seats. They have just 89 standard economy seats.
By comparison, United's current Dreamliner configuration is 48 seats in business class and 21 in premium economy, plus 39 Economy Plus seats and 149 in economy.
United expects to fly at least 30 Dreamliners with the new premium-heavy configuration by the end of next year.
Along with extra space, the Polaris Studios are equipped with United's first sliding privacy doors. However, the doors won't be available for use at the time of launch because they aren't certified yet. Seat-certification delays last year forced American to launch new suite products on Airbus A321neos with sliding doors fixed in the open position.
Standard Polaris pods will also have sliding doors on new 787s, but those doors won't be in use at launch either.