The new Air NZ designs
January 26th, 2010 at 1:50 pm by David FarrarTheir PR says:
The ‘Skycouch’, a specially designed row of three seats, has been engineered to create a lie-flat, flexible space all the way to the seat-back in front, providing a place for the kids to play, or the holy grail of economy travel – a flat surface for adults to relax and sleep.
Twenty-two sets of Skycouch seats will be available, being the first 11 window rows in the Economy Class cabin.
For two adults travelling, purchasing the Skycouch will be based on buying two seats at standard prices with the third seat at approximately half price. Full airfare details will be announced when it goes on sale from late April.
I can see this being pretty popular with couples and it only increases the combined cost by 25%. It may also do wonders for mile high stats 
Mr Fyfe says each of the three zones in Air New Zealand’s long haul aircraft of the future will be a step ahead of competitors from a comfort perspective and the experience will be further underpinned by the world’s most innovative food and beverage service and state-of-the-art entertainment system.
“Being able to order a steak, medium rare in Business Premier, a pizza for two in Premium Economy or a late night snack in Economy, whenever you want, will be a very cool experience. New oven technology that will cook food from scratch rather than simply reheating and a new digital in-seat ordering service will make this truly the first time real food has been served at 35,000 feet.
Being able order the food you want, when you want, will be damn popular also I reckon.
The 340 seat 777-300 aircraft will be configured with 246 in Economy (including 66 seats creating 22 Skycouch combinations), 50 in Premium Economy and 44 in Business Premier.
Can’t wait!
Tags: Air New Zealand
January 26th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
“Being able order the food you want, when you want, will be damn popular also I reckon.”
British Midlands used to have a chef in business class, sadly now long demised, with a menu as long as your arm. I recall one flight there was only 2 of us in business and he came out and offered to make me anything he had ingredients for. All I wanted was a bacon butty, what a waste!
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Man, the plugs we get on this blog for Air NZ must almost be enough to warrant special discounts for Kiwibloggers.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Watch out for the cougars guys!
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
“Being able order the food you want, when you want,”
Of course you will only get it when the hostie wants to bring it to you.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Looks like Air NZ are now going for the in-flight cougar market.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Mr Farrar – give me a break!.
Other than the fold up foot rest, these are what they used to have years ago when you could fold up the armrests and take up the whole 3 seats. It used to be the same in business where you could remove the armrest (and put it into the side storage or overhead). Then they made the armrest fixed – stupid.
Now – praise is due to AIR NZ for making a fold up footrest into a ‘flat sleeper seat’ – but youll still feel like shit when you fly to europe economy. However the premium economy looks good . Its really been a bit of a con charging like wounded bulls for more leg room in those crappy old seats – but it looks better in this new form.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
The current Premium Economy is pretty dam good!
I fly it a every few months when I go to hong kong.
More leg room, seats fold back further – first time i ever slept on a plane. better food etc. for an extra $350-$400.
Happy with that. Guess that means im gonna love the new version!
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Those new “Premium” Economy seats are beginning to look more and more like the business class offerings of a few years ago. Why don’t they just dump the pretence and go back to calling them 1st, business and economy.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
The point of premium economy is simple. Many businesses and other Government departments have a prohibition about paying for travel on business class. By offering a superior service and space configuration- and not branding it as a type of business class- you end up with a bigger pool of potential customers.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
So do these new couch seats not fold back ?
If they do, wont the people in the row infront of you dictate how you use your flat space ?
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
NO! They’ve returned to the crazy double seating in business class. The feature of Air NZ is the single seats in business so you don’t end up right next to some crusty old fat bloke who throws his arms everywhere in his sleep. Hoep the dividers between the seats are improved dramatically so you don’t get thrown around in your seat whenever your neighbour moves.
I can’t see the advantage of the economy fold down seat, 1st you have to travel with another person and then by the looks, lie on top of them. They must be wider than the current seats then as 3 in a row even at my height means your feet dangle off the edge.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Hey Cactus thanks for letting us in on how DPF behaves when you travel together
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
A UK banker friend of mine recently flew Air NZ economy Trans-Tasman and declared it miles better than the UK-Europe business flights he takes every week. He considered it on par with most of the Trans-Atlantic business offerings.
Vote:They’re already a big step ahead globally so kudos for continuing to push the boundaries. If they could fly in the US domestic market they’d make a killing…
January 26th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Hmm. Looks like new and interesting ways to piss off flight attendants. I can see the little kiddies in the future randomly touching the screen and sending flight attendants running.
Vote:P.S Is there some sort of deal going on between DPF and AirNZ?
As a tax paying part owner of AirNZ I’d like to know.
January 26th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Cactus, the double seating looks to be just in the centre. You still get individual pods by the windows. Just request 1A when you book.
As for the economy sleeper seats, it is just a gimmock. It looks cramped and anyone over 5 and a half feet are going to dangle over the edges. Probably not for me, but I am going to annoy many people here and say that I CAN sleep in economy class seats. However Kudos to Air NZ for trying something new.
The new Beoing 747-8 going into production has room for economy class bunks/sleepers in the rump behind the upstairs bubble. Interesting to see who will buy these planes and offer this service.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Quite frnakly this is another load of Fyfe CRAP
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Why is Air New Zealand always – and I mean always – in the news?
In most instances (I exclude crashes here, though I thought the Erebus coverage was excessive) the stories seem to me to be trivial.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
AIR NZ need to be in the news to try and convince the great unwashed to pay through the nose for their over familiar service (even in business class) a lot less of the awesome, no problem, etc would go a long way.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
This IS ground breaking, as the economy seat bottom area doubles in size and it will be like a bunk for those not too tall. Albeit only a minority of economy seats will offer it, but NZ needs to differentiate itself against the lower cost base airlines like Emirates (which have far lower costs at their home airport and nearly unlimited capital to fund expansion and subsidise unprofitable routes). This will be the best economy seat in the air, with ANA’s new one a distant second, it leaves all the others behind in their wake.
Premium economy is looking as good as the current industry best, which is BMI. BMI uses old deep reclining business class seats, but the main thing premium economy is changing is width. It is currently 3-3-3 on 777s, using the same seats as economy just with deeper recline and much more legroom. This is a brand new seat.
It’s worth noting that NZ is putting nearly the same number of business premier seats and MORE premium economy seats on the new 777-300ERs than are on the 747-400s, even though the 777s are smaller (though bigger than the current ones). It tells me NZ knows its future is in the premium market, as most tourists from most of NZ’s key markets (Asia, Australia, NZ) are uninterested in anything but economy, are uninterested in legroom (how many research that?) and just want the cheapest fare and to watch movies.
The truth is for anyone expressing envy about the premium classes is that without them, its unprofitable to operate long haul flights – which is why long haul low cost airlines have been very few and far between (and all of them have a cheap business class they strive to fill). In other words, economy class is by and large a marginal profit operation on long haul routes. Fill the front two cabins, and economy need not be sold at all. Fill economy only, and even it is 100% full it wont be enough to pay for the cost of operating the flight, let alone pay for the capital tied up in running an airline.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
expat (2944) Says:
January 26th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
AIR NZ need to be in the news to try and convince the great unwashed to pay through the nose for their over familiar service (even in business class) a lot less of the awesome, no problem, etc would go a long way.
I quite agree expat. Though the familiarity would be fine if they would just bring my bloody mary BEFORE the meal.
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 1:15 am
Good to see the share price got a boost – NOT!
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 6:20 am
“Why is Air New Zealand always – and I mean always – in the news?”
Because most news media will have a travel or aviation “specialist”, more perks and sex appeal then pbeing, say, the forstry specialist. In NZ that means you have to write about Air NZ. Say the right things and you will get all manner of “educational” perks.
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 7:11 am
To put a slight dampener on it all, a close look at all the details reveals a few steps backward:
Economy class on 777-300ERs is to be in a 3-4-3 configuration. The current 777s have a 3-3-3 configuration. Both aircraft have the same cabin width, so some seat width is being sacrificed. It look like just under an inch less per seat, not much, but some might notice. Singapore, Malaysian, Thai and Korean all fly to NZ with a 9 abreast configuration on their 777s, only Emirates does the 10 abreast squeeze. Now it is joined by NZ. Not a good move.
Economy class on 777-300ERs will have a 33″ seat pitch (distance between rows). The current 777s have a 32″ pitch BUT the 747s the 777-300ERs replace have 34″ seat pitch. So arguably it’s an inch less legroom as well.
Premium economy on 777-300ERs will have a 36″ seat pitch. The current 777s have a 42″ seat pitch in premium economy, the 747s have 38-40″. That’s as much as half a foot LESS legroom. Will the new design make up for this? We’ll see.
Skycouches will be great for those who buy them, but the rest of economy class has been made a bit tighter. Premium economy seats are a lot wider than the current ones, but there is no improvement in recline and legroom looks a bit of a squeeze.
Maybe the mainstream media might ask a few of these awkward questions?
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 7:40 am
These Air new Zealand executives (or the ones making decisions about seating configuration etc) ought to be politicians. “give with the one hand and take with the other” ! Theres NO free lunch
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 9:38 am
I travel quite a lot and this seems like a good plan. I don’t want to be negative, though, but by the look of it Air New Zealand are wasting a lot of space with their design.
I recently did a lot of 14 hour trips in Chile and Argentina by BUS and the full-bed (“cama”) designs on their buses beat this hands down. Each seat/bed is in a kind of box of its own and reclines fully to flat. The leg part then swings down into position from the seat in front and, hey presto, you have a fully flat bed! At the ‘seat’ position there is full communication with your neighbour like a normal seat, but when reclined it goes down into a nice padded box so you get privacy. They are great
I don’t know how much more room these seats take than a normal seat – but I think they would take far less space than this Air New Zealand plan.
Actually,, there is another, less expensive bus travel option called ‘semi-cama’ (half-bed) which is really good too although it doesn’t go flat all the way. They squeeze around 36 of these in the top deck of a bus, so that gives an idea of the space needed.
Have a look at the seats on the link below…. they are only half-beds… imagine what the full beds are like! (These claim to be full-beds but they aren’t really; they are only what I experienced as half-bed with no boxes and not a fully flat seat).
http://www.region.com.ar/alberino/
If I owned an airline I would get a Brazilian coach builder to design my seating, put a slight premium on the ticket prices and CLEAN UP!
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 11:58 am
libertyscott (253) Says:
January 27th, 2010 at 7:11 am
Economy class on 777-300ERs is to be in a 3-4-3 configuration
You sure about that? Boeing show 2 5 2 & 3 3 3 configs only for 777 300′s
Vote:January 27th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I just hope they change all the seats in cattle class. last time I travelled to LA my posterior was not happy!!, in fact, I think it was clinically dead for about 20 mins!.
Vote:On the return trip I used my kiwi ingenuity to fabricate a crude “ring ring” out of a sweat shirt and parts of the planes fuselage.
Success was limited but my butt did survive this time.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Voice of reason:
Absolutely sure, it is in the LOPA (Layout of passenger accommodation) Air NZ displayed at the launch. Emirates, Air France, KLM and Austrian Airlines all have a 3-4-3 configuration for 777s.
NZ is squeezing in another seat in economy rows by narrowing the other seats and the aisles and pushing the seats closer to the windows (less of a gap). Other airlines flying to NZ with 777s have the following pitch and configuration:
Korean – 34″ pitch, 3-3-3 configuration
Malaysian – 34″ pitch, 2-5-2 configuration
Thai – 34″ pitch, 3-3-3 configuration
Emirates – 34″ pitch, 3-4-3 configuration
Singapore – 777-300ER 32″ pitch, 3-3-3 configuration, 777-200ER 34″ pitch 3-3-3 configuration.
NZ has less pitch in economy than all, but Singapore’s 777-300ER (which has wider seats), and less width than all but Emirates, which has more pitch. On average the new NZ seats in economy, if you DON’T go Skycouch are a bit narrower and tighter than the competition for the same aircraft.
However, to be fair Qantas has consistently 2 inches less pitch than NZ, and all of the Qantas long haul economy seats are narrower except the ones on the A380. My bet it is all about encouraging people to go into premium economy, and leaving those who are price conscious only in the back. Let’s face it, how many people pick airlines based on legroom and seat width?
By the way if you want to find out all of those stats, http://www.seatguru.com is the source.
Vote:January 29th, 2010 at 12:08 am
Instead of tiny petite models in their ads, why doesn’t AirNZ show us Richie McCaw sitting next to Carl Hayman and Brad Thorne?
Vote:That would be more realistic for decent sized chaps like yours truly.