Virgin Australia’s impressive business class fit-out

Virgin Australia’s freshly fitted-out business class cabin is as good as you’re going to get at 30,000ft.

Virgin Australia likes to call its freshly fitted-out business class cabin “The Business” but a more apt name would be the “Bee’s knees” because it’s about as good as you’re going to get at 30,000ft.

The new configuration has been installed on three and a half of its five Boeing 777 fleet, which are used to fly between Australia, Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi.

The best thing about this business class offering is certainty.

By September the whole fleet will be fitted out, meaning that so long as you fly Virgin you’ll know that you’ll get precious aisle access no matter what seat you end up on.

That’s thanks to the 1-2-1 configuration that Virgin has opted for in this fit-out, which thankfully does away with the prospect of a midnight clamber over sleeping neighbours on long-haul flights.

The new cabin features 37 private suites in reverse-herringbone pattern, with a design aesthetic that is all about sleek lines, clean curves and a colour palette of blacks, deep purples and subtle silvers that wouldn’t look out of place on the interior of a Porsche — the automobile favourite of Virgin boss John Borghetti.

Aside from the aesthetics, what really stands out in this cabin is the privacy of each individual seat. By reducing the number of business seats in the cabin to allow more room, passengers are given a real sense of private calm on these legs.

The seat, which reclines from upright to fully flat with the 80-inch length of a queen-size bed, is also pretty great on those overnight legs.

Virgin hasn’t skimped on storage space either. There were no less than five separate storage compartments — including a dedicated iPad holder — that were easily accessible.

One of the best things, though — and which seems unique to a 777 layout — was the business bar between the two business compartments. I don’t know if it was the 12 -year-old Balvenie whisky or simply the chance to hang out with fellow travellers for a yarn that broke up the trip, but it sure went fast.