Gary has a fascinating post on today’s American Airlines media event announcing its forthcoming enhancements to their business class seats in the 777-200 and 767-300 fleets. As has been suspected in some circles, American will be eliminating the First Class cabin from the 777-200 fleet and installing full flat business seats. These are very nice seats, all of which will offer direct access to the aisle as opposed to American’s current configuration, which even features a center seat in Business Class on the 777 and being trapped on the window in the 767. In short, a guarantee that if you are in one of the window seats or the dreaded center seat on the 777, you will need a jar of vaseline and a parachute to have any hope of successfully extracting yourself from your seat for a trip to the restroom or to simply stretch your legs. Here’s a shot of the proposed new business seats courtesy of AA.com:

Invalid request error occurred.

Pretty snazzy looking, especially compared to what they have now. While American is eliminating the First Class cabin from its 777-200s, the new 777-300s that begin arriving later this year will feature First Class cabins and updated seats like those depicted here, again courtesy of AA.com.

Invalid request error occurred.

In other news, AA will complete the installation of wi-fi for its domestic narrowbody fleet by next summer. That’s longer than I would have hoped for, but it is nice to know that a firm date is in mind. As I’m sure you know, I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for American. It is good to see the airline making long overdue investments in its product. You can read American’s press information on the topic of its fleet enhancements here.