In economy, skycouches can’t be beaten. For those not in skycouches it becomes a different story. For legroom and seat width, both Thai and Malaysian beat NZ with wider seats and marginally more legroom in economy. However, NZ easily beats Qantas and Cathay with two inches more legroom and comparable seat width. Emirates is probably on a par with NZ, which is frankly a slight step backwards.
In premium economy the only competitor is Qantas, and with this NZ has slipped ahead a couple of notches. With Cathay and Malaysian airlines both announcing premium economy products, it will be a segment of the market that will be moving ahead. Of course on both of the London runs, BA and Virgin compete for the LA and Hong Kong routes from London, but NZ beats both. Certainly the catering offer in premium economy remains the best. NZ’s main competition is probably cheap business class on the likes of Royal Brunei (although it is a three stop service to London!).
In business premier Singapore Airlines remains the standard to beat on flights to NZ. With such wide seats, privacy, large entertainment screens and seating parallel to the cabin, on its 77W flights to/from Auckland (not the 77E flights to Auckland and Christchurch), it has in my view, the superior hard product. However, NZ still soundly beats the rather narrow cheap version of the same seat concept on Cathay, whereas Malaysian, Korean and Thai still have sloping lie flat seats on flights to NZ. Qantas only has fully lie flat seats on the A380s, which are only some flights to London, although BA has long had fully lie flat seats on all long haul flights in business. Emirates has a mix of fully flat and recliner seats on routes from NZ to Europe, although A380s are consistently with fully flat products. However, NZ’s proposed food offering will easily excel all of them.
For catering, NZ will clearly be the market leader in its part of the world. Only a few airlines, like Austrian, go for cooking food fresh, it isn’t cheap, but it makes a major point of difference from other airlines. It will be a significant reason to use NZ over other carriers in the front cabins.
For entertainment, it will be another step forward, with larger entertainment screens in at least economy and premium economy, and an improved system. It will be up with the current best, although it is unclear if there will be USB ports to charge MP3 players and laptop power at every seat.
Still, it keeps NZ ahead of the game, and gives some further potential to move forward when the 787s arrive.
In premium economy the only competitor is Qantas, and with this NZ has slipped ahead a couple of notches. With Cathay and Malaysian airlines both announcing premium economy products, it will be a segment of the market that will be moving ahead. Of course on both of the London runs, BA and Virgin compete for the LA and Hong Kong routes from London, but NZ beats both. Certainly the catering offer in premium economy remains the best. NZ’s main competition is probably cheap business class on the likes of Royal Brunei (although it is a three stop service to London!).
In business premier Singapore Airlines remains the standard to beat on flights to NZ. With such wide seats, privacy, large entertainment screens and seating parallel to the cabin, on its 77W flights to/from Auckland (not the 77E flights to Auckland and Christchurch), it has in my view, the superior hard product. However, NZ still soundly beats the rather narrow cheap version of the same seat concept on Cathay, whereas Malaysian, Korean and Thai still have sloping lie flat seats on flights to NZ. Qantas only has fully lie flat seats on the A380s, which are only some flights to London, although BA has long had fully lie flat seats on all long haul flights in business. Emirates has a mix of fully flat and recliner seats on routes from NZ to Europe, although A380s are consistently with fully flat products. However, NZ’s proposed food offering will easily excel all of them.
For catering, NZ will clearly be the market leader in its part of the world. Only a few airlines, like Austrian, go for cooking food fresh, it isn’t cheap, but it makes a major point of difference from other airlines. It will be a significant reason to use NZ over other carriers in the front cabins.
For entertainment, it will be another step forward, with larger entertainment screens in at least economy and premium economy, and an improved system. It will be up with the current best, although it is unclear if there will be USB ports to charge MP3 players and laptop power at every seat.
Still, it keeps NZ ahead of the game, and gives some further potential to move forward when the 787s arrive.
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