Air NZ working on ‘refined’ seat design

A report by Steve Creedy in The Australian says that the airline that brought Lord of the Rings to the world has set out on a new quest: to find the one seat to rule them all.

Air New Zealand is working with US-based design organisation IDEO to create new seats it hopes will make its cabins world beaters when it refurbishes them in 2010 to take advantage of the introduction of Boeing 787-9 and 777-300ER aircraft.

And it is taking up the cause of the great unwashed with a move to find an economy seat that will allow people at the back of plane to sleep comfortably.

“Our goal is to redefine what long-haul travel can be,” Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe said during a recent teleconference. “And I think the next generation of change will see a lot more innovation in the economy cabins compared to the focus in the premium cabins over the last few years.”

Several airlines, including Qantas, have already unveiled redesigned economy seats to give people more space by changing the way the seat reclines.

Sleep on it: See Lufthansa’s plans for an economy sleeping cabin »

The most innovative of these is the Cathay Pacific seat which adopts the hard-shell concept used in business class to ensure that someone reclining their seat does not impinge on the passenger behind. Air NZ gives passengers travelling on its Boeing 747s a generous 34-inch seat pitch, two inches more than most competitors.

Mr Fyfe said the airline had not yet settled on a seat pitch for its new cabins, but said the challenge and opportunity was greatest in space-constrained economy cabins.

“We’re really working hard at the moment to see if there are any breakthroughs in thinking as to how you give more comfort and the opportunity for people to have a better sleep in that economy space,” he said.

He said Air NZ was looking for a “fundamentally different paradigm” for its economy seats that went beyond even the new designs unveiled by the likes of Cathay.

“We’re setting out on a journey and we don’t know the answer yet,” he said.

“But we’re mindful and we’re taking a lot of notice of the A380 products that are emerging in the market consequent to the introduction of that aircraft.”

“We’re definitely looking and saying we want this purchase to herald the next generation post the A380 and take it to another level again.”

Gallery: Inside the A380 »

The Kiwi carrier has already seen its yields improve after it revamped its cabins in 2005 and lured back premium customers from other airlines.

An important factor in that was the introduction of its popular premium economy section, a move soon to be emulated by Qantas.

Mr Fyfe said the airline was also looking at the mix of seating types it would have in its new planes but he did not expect the new seating to result in fare increases.

“We’re seeing an incredibly strong demand at the moment for our premium product, so we’ll need to determine what mix of economy, premium economy and business premier seats we put inside the aircraft,” he said.

“And that will affect the overall average fare value, but we don’t expect this to herald an incremental shift in the cost of economy of business fares per se.”

Air NZ will add four Boeing 777-300ERs with a list price of $NZ1.1 billion ($975 million) in 2010-11 as part of a $NZ2.6 billion plan to convert the Kiwi carrier to an all twin-engine, long-haul fleet by 2012.

The new planes will complement the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, due to start arriving in 2010, and give the airline significant fuel savings on its current aircraft.

The 777-300ERs are about 16 per cent more efficient than the 747 jumbos they will replace and the 787-9 is expected to be at least 20 per cent more efficient than the 767.

Air NZ, which has eight Boeing 777-200ERs, is the launch customer for the 787-9 and will take eight of the cutting-edge aircraft over the next five years.

The new aircraft will also help the carrier continue to reduce its carbon footprint. The new planes will allow Air NZ to fly direct to destinations in India, China, South America, Asia and the US – including major US hubs like Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Report by The Mole