-
Watch Video
-
Related
Air New Zealand has shown off new seats that will allow some economy class passengers to lie down on long-haul flights.
They will have to pay more and snuggle up to do it, but the
airline is convinced plenty will.
Airlines like to boast about their aircraft, but when flying long
distance, it is what's inside the plane that counts.
And it is a battle of inches, which is why Air New Zealand calls the new in-flight position revolutionary.
"We think the 'skycouch' offers you a much better opportunity to have genuine sleep than it does currently sitting upright in an economy seat," says Ed Sims, Air New Zealand's general manager, international.
From December there will be 11 rows of "skycouches" on the first of the airline's new Boeing 777s, aimed at the leisure traveller who might be put off making a 20-hour flight to New Zealand. Seats will go on sale in late April.
Travel writers from the UK, US and Asia have been flown in to check out the new seats and seem to like what they see.
"(The seats) takes up the same amount of space, enhances the experience for people, sounds great to me," says Brett Snyder of Crankyflier.com.
The couches are all designed from scratch in New Zealand. So if they catch on, Air New Zealand can also license that intellectual property and end up not just selling more seats to people, but selling seats to other airlines.
"For three years a dedicated group of Air New Zealanders, with the assistance of leading industrial designers, international design company IDEO, some of our top Kiwi boat builders, Boeing and seat manufacturers, have been focused on creating a new experience that will influence cabin design for the next decade," says Sims.
The airline is also making a departure from the familiar blues and green colour scheme it normally uses and will instead use a blend of chalk and deep ink tones.
Take a tour through Air New Zealand's new economy class seating here
The first routes on offer to travellers to will be long haul travel on selected NZ5 and NZ6 services between Auckland and Los Angeles from December.
This will be followed by return services on NZ1 and NZ2 between Auckland and Los Angeles and through to London from April 2011.
Air New Zealand is also planning to refit its Boeing 777-200 aircraft that service its Asian, North American and UK markets from the middle of next year.
Other features include:
New oven technology to cook food from scratch rather than just reheating
Extensive new in-flight entertainment system using touch screens
Wine tasting and destination seminars
Slip-on pillows for headrests to remove need for neck cushions (economy)
Flight Planner to know when meals, drinks etc will be served, lights dimmed etc.
Shared-meal experiences such as pizza for two (Premier economy)
On-demand food and beverage service (business class)
