I toured Etihad's new first and business cabins coming to future Airbus jets in 2027. These 8 things surprised me most. - Business Insider

The Middle East is home to one of the most premium and competitive airline markets on the planet. Legacy carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad Airways all offer business class products that are among the strongest in the market. Determining a winner among these three can be challenging and varies based on which aircraft you actually fly. Let's break down these cabins across multiple channels, including hard product, soft product, and ground game. These carriers compete for all kinds of travelers, with connecting passengers increasingly becoming a major part of all their business models. The Qatar Airways Qsuite remains a key reference point for a business class seat with a suite-like feel, especially on routes where it is installed. Emirates is in the middle of a consistency upgrade, with the carrier set to roll out retrofitted Boeing 777s with a modern 1-2-1 layout, an important shift from the older 2-3-2 cabin that many travelers have aimed to avoid. Etihad's pitch is a more boutique vibe, with A350 business 'studios' that feature sliding doors and fully flat beds, aiming to blend privacy with a much calmer cabin.

The new Qsuite is impressive, and I particularly liked the two-person window suite and personal safe. Qatar Airways hoped to debut the next generation of its famous Qsuite business class last year — with lockable drawers and two-person window suites — but it still hasn't flown a single passenger. The Doha-based airline unveiled its reinvented Qsuite at the UK's Farnborough Airshow in 2024, promising a new level of luxury for its Boeing 777-9 jets by 2025. The 777-9 is the larger variant of the 777X. But Boeing's new widebody still isn't certified. The 777X is seven years behind its original schedule, while Boeing continues to grapple with safety, quality, production, and supply-chain problems. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said at a September Morgan Stanley conference that the 777-9 was still on track for 2027, but an engine issue discovered earlier this year could slightly push the timeline. "I don't see that as a major challenge for us, but we still got a lot in front of us on the flight test program," Ortberg said. "Not done until we're done. "Neither Boeing nor Qatar Airways responded to a request for comment from Business Insider.

A group of Nova Scotians gathered on the waterfront in Halifax on Saturday with a message for Premier Tim Houston: allowing the construction of a large data centre will be detrimental to the environment and the community. “These companies don’t have a lot of information that they’re able to give us, we don’t know what this is gonna look like, we already have wells that are drying up in the summertime. I don’t think we can afford to do this,” Megan Boudreau, one of the protest organizers, told Global News. Energy and infrastructure company, EverWind, announced on Friday $10 billion in private investment in a data centre campus at its existing Point Tupper site. The site would be leased and run by AI development company Anthropic, the creator of the AI assistant Claude. “Canadians are using Claude in growing numbers, and we want our infrastructure to be closer to the people who rely on it,” said Jacob Glick, head of Canada Public Policy with Anthropic. Story continues below advertisement

Business Insider's reporter paid $1,000 to spend two nights in a hotel room with a view of Niagara Falls. Forget frills and fancy toiletries. To me, the ultimate luxury of a hotel stay is to feel immersed in the destination without leaving your room. That's why I paid $1,000 for a two-night stay at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel during my first trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 2022. I had front-row views of the iconic waterfalls from the moment I woke up to the second I fell asleep. When I checked into the hotel, I expected to be blown away by the scenery from my room's window, but staying at the Sheraton Fallsview also brought some surprises that made my stay feel worth the price.

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