Delta airlines to offer yet ANOTHER new business class?

Some time ago I posted about Delta improving its international business class product, although still with cradle seats.

More recently Delta was the very first US airline to announce it was introducing fully lie flat seats in business class. These seats will be familiar to those who know the herringbone configuration that Air Canada and Cathay Pacific have introduced (which is a cheaper version of the seats seen on Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand). These seats are being fitted to Delta's new Boeing 777-200LR (long range) aircraft and were to be retrofitted onto its entire international 777 fleet.

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Now Delta has announced yet another design according to Business Traveller as seen in the image above. This version will be retrofitted to the long haul Boeing 767-400 fleet, in a 1-2-1 configuration (which is clearly superior in width to all other airline 767 configurations in business class which are typically 2-2-2 or at best 2-2-1). It looks like a direct rival to United Airlines, nd BMI, all of which have introduced forward facing fully flat bed business class seats (but none come close to outclassing Singapore Airlines new product).

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On top of that the cradle seats are being upgraded for the long haul Boeing 757 fleet!

Delta's press release on the latest Business Elite product (for 767s) is here.

Delta's press release on last Business Elite product announcement (for 777s) is here.

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It looks like finally some US airlines are catching up and surpassing the business class products of airlines elsewhere. No continental European airlines have fully lie flat business class seats. Maybe Delta CAN win premium traffic on the trans Atlantic route off of BA and Virgin Atlantic after all?