French MRO company Sabena technics recently modified the cabin of one of Air Caraïbes’ Airbus A350-1000s (part of the Dubreuil Group), converting it to a two-class layout (Premium Economy and Economy) with a total of 480 seats, including 40 in the “Caraïbes” class. The aircraft was originally configured with 429 seats across three classes, featuring a “Madras” business cabin arranged in four rows with a 2-2-2 seating layout.
The conversion work was carried out in Bordeaux-Mérignac over an eight-week period and included replacing and modifying cabin furnishings, adding additional seats, and updating the in-flight entertainment software.
The widebody’s cabin retrofit was logically performed simultaneously with a scheduled major maintenance check. The aircraft (MSN 65, registration F-HMIL, delivered in late 2019) was returned to service in mid-November.
It’s worth noting that the French carrier took delivery of its fourth A350-1000 almost exactly one year ago—an aircraft configured with the same 480-seat, two-class layout and therefore without a business class, in line with the LOPA used on sister airline French bee’s two A350-1000s.
With this configuration, Air Caraïbes meets strong seasonal demand on routes between Paris and the French West Indies, while the aircraft can also be deployed on French bee’s services to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
