Thai to completely refurbish fleet by 2017

As reported before on this blog, Thai Airways has announced new seating for economy, business and first classes that will appear on all new Airbus A330s and the Airbus A380s when they arrive, and will be retrofitted on existing A330s.  However, Flightglobal has reported that up to 12 of Thai's Boeing 747-400s will also be retrofitted with the new products over the next three years, with 8 Boeing 777-200s to get new in flight entertainment systems (although not apparently new seats).  However from 2012 to 2017 Boeing 777-200ERs and Airbus A340s will get new products (which is a very long period to retrofit, as well as seemingly reversing the assumption that the A340s are to be disposed of).

As I said before, the new first and business class offerings are to be welcomed, although tightening up the seat pitch in economy is a big step backwards.   However, most concerning must be the incongruity of Thai's aim to compete with the likes of Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Malaysian and Cathay, but taking 7 years to get its product up to spec across its fleet.  Thai should be aiming to have its long haul fleet converted as a priority by 2013 with medium haul by 2015.  

Its current image is of a carrier that is relatively cheap, is below the standards of the airlines it seeks to compete with, but has good in flight service.  The main disadvantage of Thai is inconsistency.  No personal in flight entertainment screens in economy class is a big disadvantage when almost all other carriers have them.   However at the premium end, passengers can't be sure to get fully flat beds in first class or even angled lie flat seats in business class.   Consistency is all, then Thai can focus on those little touches it can easily do, like service, catering and good lounges at Bangkok, to make a difference.

However, until I know what I am getting, Thai will always be a matter of "it's good if it is cheap, but if it is the same price as others..."

Meanwhile Thai has announced it is recommencing daily direct flights between Bangkok and Auckland with its Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

Air NZ receives first new Boeing 777-300ER with new long haul product

Air NZ's first new Boeing 777-300ERs, intended to replace its Boeing 747-400 fleet, has arrived equipped with its new long haul product.

Air NZ's first Boeing 777-300ER

The term "cuddle class" has been unofficially coined for Air New Zealand's new economy class offering, which promises to be the most revolutionary change to economy class since personal in flight entertainment screens.

Sample of Air NZ's new premium economy and economy seats

Details about the new products were outlined on this blog before with the key points being:

- The front Economy Class cabin having the window portions of rows convertible into SkyCouch, with three seats convertible into a bunk/sofa across the width of the seats;

- A general upgrade of Economy Class seating, except for squeezing in a 10th seat into the 777 making the seats less than an inch narrower than on existing 747s and 777s;

- Premium Economy in a 2-2-2 configuration in new private hard shell seats;

- A refresh of Business Premier with a softer mattress side; and

- Induction ovens to enable fresh food to be prepared.

The new Boeing 777-300ER will initially fly only on routes between Auckland and Melbourne and Brisbane for staff training and trials.  The SkyCouch wont be sold, neither will Premium Economy, although Air NZ frequent flyers with status in economy class may be upgraded to the new cabin at the time.   From mid January it will be introduced on the Auckland-Los Angeles route (NZ6/NZ5) although it will not be guaranteed until February when the second aircraft arrives.  From 1 April the third aircraft will allow deployment on the Auckland-Los Angeles-London Heathrow route (NZ2/NZ1).

Images of the interior are now available and it shows a fair bit of attention to detail.  Airline Reporter has an excellent collection here, with highlights being:
- Fully made up Skycouch;
- Another view of Skycouch with pillows, blanket and underlay;
- New Economy Class cabin looking forward, Skycouches on the side sections;
- Another view of new Economy Class cabin;
- New Premium Economy cabin looking back;
- Another view of new Premium Economy cabin;
- New Premium Economy seat;
- New Business Premier in sleep configuration;
- New Business Premier in seat configuration;
- New Business Premier cabin looking forward;
- New Business Premier amenity kit and table;
- New Business Premier cabin looking back.

Business Traveller also has an excellent Facebook photo album of the product development.

My view is that Skycouch is a revolutionary leap forward for couples or a parent with child travelling together who want to sleep.  It takes what some economy class passenger enjoy when flights are empty, a flat surface of several seats, and expands on it to guarantee it, by selling three seats for the price of 2.5.   That alone should be a revolutionary change for passengers in the back, and I wonder in particular, how popular it will be on the highly competitive Los Angeles-London route.

The rest of economy class passengers will have seats that have been redesigned with new headrests, pillows to slip over the headrests, fully retractable armrests, larger in flight entertainment screens (to the same size as business premier today) and the ability to order drinks and snacks on demand.   Pitch will be a compromise between the 747's 34" and the 32" on the existing 777s, at 33", but sadly seat width is being compromised to a tight 17", less than an inch narrower than existing seats (although as important, aisles are getting substantially tighter).  You see going 3-4-3 in a 777 is tight, and a step backwards compared to many airlines such as Singapore, Cathay and BA.   Still the proof will be in the trying.

The new Premium Economy seats are a leap forward, offering unprecedented privacy in this class, with the centre seats allowing people travelling together to share a table and face each other to eat.  The side seats offering particularly higher levels of privacy facing outwards towards windows.  The 36" seat pitch can't be the measure of legroom, as the staggered layout provides significantly more.  Also to be noted is the generous 2-2-2 configuration in terms of width, which is reportedly at 20", as much as some business classes.  The 9" recline is the same at present, but as with economy, the proof as to the comfort will be in trying it.   Again, enhanced entertainment screens and catering (with properly cooked food) should add to the experience.  I expect this will have to easily claim the title as the best premium economy class in the world today.

Business Premier is an upgauge of the current product.  Whilst I'll enjoy softer surfaces and small enhancements, the big change is fully on demand eating, with fully cooked food as well as fresh toast and eggs.   For me the one thing that Business Premier will lack is the ambience of the nose cabin on the 747 or the front of the upper deck, but that is what happens when 777s replace 747s.   I expect the improved seat and the vastly improved catering will keep Air NZ as one of my favourites in business class.

Air France's lousy update of business class

Air France has launched a new business class (L'Espace Affaires) seat on its latest Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.  The publicity material indicates the following improvements on the existing seats:

- New integrated fixed footrest;

- New relaxation positions allowed for takeoff and landing with footrest extended;

- Softer headrest;

- More storage;

- Easier to use seat controls;

- Longer structure (over two metres in length) and now 61cm width;

- New 15 inch 16:9 ratio inflight entertainment screen (which also launches a new AVOD entertainment system with USB interface);

- Improved hard shell design with more privacy;

- Multi-standard power sockets.

Air France new business class in full sleep mode

The video is here showing the layout of the new business class on the 777.

All very nice right? Well, except for one point.  It remains an angled lie flat seat.  

When will Air France catch up with its competitors?  With US carriers such as United/Continental and Delta moving towards fully lie flat business class, fully lie flat now being rolled out among the big Gulf carriers like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, fully lie flat on Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, let alone the likes of British Airways, does Air France think this remains competitive?  Is the soft product that much better?  I don't think so.

Admittedly, continental European airlines have been slow in moving to fully lie flat seats in business class, but today Iberia, Swiss, Finnair and even Alitalia have either fully or partly rolled out fully lie flat in business class.  Is it that Air France has the French-based premium traffic so well sewn up in terms of corporate contracts that it can continue to be sub-standard in business class seating?

The aircraft to be retrofitted includes the 777 fleet (those with business class), Airbus A380s and A330s.   Airbus A340s are not to be retrofitted, nor are Boeing 747s (the latter are due to be replaced with A380s).

So a nice upgrade, but Air France still can't be said to be up to the standards of many of its competitors.   Will it take Lufthansa (which also has an angled lie-flat product) to go fully lie flat for Air France to do so?  Will it take a lot more of Air France's customers to choose competing airlines?

Air France has a reasonable soft product, reasonable lounges, including an arrivals lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport, but if business class for you is about getting a good night's sleep, then you might be looking at other choices.

Thai to make 2 steps forward and 1 step backward with new products

Business Traveller reports that the Bangkok Post has published an article showing Thai Airways is planning a complete revamp of its aircraft cabins.  Thai has been notorious for inconsistency in products to the extent that it has used older 747 aircraft on some routes and selling old first class seats as business class and old business class seats as premium economy!  As passengers have often not had certainty about products or aircraft, premium travellers have not rated its First Class and Business Class highly as a result.   Even when there is some consistency (e.g. London Heathrow-Bangkok) some aspects of Thai's product remain lacklustre (e.g. no personal IFE screens in economy class).  

Thai claims it will address this inconsistency, which is in part because it has a very diverse fleet.  Beyond that the judgment is very mixed.  Thai seeks to be up with the likes of Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Cathay Pacific, and to be fair its soft product and on board service standards are good.  Its Bangkok hub has reasonable lounges (although the airport itself is an uninspiring concrete mass).  

The new products will include AVOD for every class with screens ranging from 10" in economy to 23" in first.  Thai also intends to offer internet connectivity and mobile phone access for premium customers (the latter being a reason to avoid the airline in my view - last thing i want in business class overnight from London are to hear ringtones, beeps and loud conversations).  

How about the seats?  My verdict is mixed.

Well the image from Bangkok Post appears to depict the new First Class, which looks identical to the new Korean Air product, with mini-suites and 23" inch wide fully lie flat seats.   This looks a winner, and also parallels the latest product from Swiss.  

Business Class (which is currently ranges from angled lie flat seats to recliners) is to be fully lie flat, minimum 20" wide with added privacy.   The new seat is shown below and described by Bangkok Post as a toned down version of the newest Emirates product, which would appear to be quite an improvement.  Regional aircraft will have recliners replaced with angled lie flat seats, which probably means the existing long haul product (which is competitive for flights of up to 6 hours given Singapore Airlines's new A330s which have such a product in Business).

Thai concept for new fully flat Business Class
 

There is no mention of premium economy, which admittedly is only available on certain routes at the moment (again variable product), but economy class is a major step backwards as Thai surrenders its best in class 34" seat pitch for 31-32".   In other words it is certainly joining Singapore, Cathay and Emirates with tight seat pitch, but is losing one of its competitive advantages - legroom!  I'd argue that it could sell itself as the roomiest economy class on almost all of the routes it services, so this is NOT a winner (although most economy travellers are driven by price).  

The other issue is how long it is going to take to do the retrofit.  The new products will be available on Thai's Airbus A380s (which will replace the old configuration Boeing 747s) and new A330-300s (which are replacing Airbus A300s).   The A380s will replace 747s on the London, Paris and Frankfurt routes so will mean some key premium routes will have new product.   Beyond that who knows? 

The Bangkok Post article indicates the retrofit programme could last to 2023, which is clearly absurd.  

Thai's A300 and A340 fleets' days are clearly numbered,  but it has 20 of its own 777s and another 11 on order (excluding those leased from Jet Airways and Air India).   They are the backbone of a significant number of lower density routes including routes to various Australian airports and New Zealand.   However, it is assumed the combination of A380s and 777-300ER aircraft spells the eventual end of the 747 fleet, although Business Standard indicated the 747 fleet will be refurbished.

Setting aside economy class (!), it is important that Thai makes it clear what its retrofit schedule is and it should not be longer than 2 years.  Anymore than that and any publicity about new products is heavily devalued every time a passenger finds him or herself on an aircraft with old (or even elderly) products. 

So good for Thai for acknowledging product consistency is an issue and for upgrading its first class product and going fully flat in business, but brickbats for making economy class tight and narrow and for not making it clear what is happening to the rest of its fleet.   This goes some way to raising Thai up to the standards of the best Asian hub airlines and its competitors from the Persian Gulf, Europe and Australasia, but what prospective passengers want is certainty and a relatively quick rollout of new products (with a priority given to replacing the products that last were seen elsewhere in the 1990s).

Continental Airlines progress on fully lie flat business class install

Flightglobal reports that Continental Airlines has completed its installation of fully lie flat business-first seats in its 777 fleet.  This will be welcome, as the airline appears to have the best business class product of any North American airline, and also brings it closer in line to United (which is, after all, the same airline) which has fully installed its entire 747 and 767 fleet (but still only partially installed the 777 fleet).  Continental's website claims the 757 fleet have 68% installation (in a 2-2 configuration with 23" seat width but 58" pitch).  A seat map of the 757 is here.  Continental has earlier claimed that all flights to London Heathrow are with aircraft equipped with the fully lie flat seats.  However, it is important to note that none of the Boeing 767-400ERs are equipped with the lie flat seats, but rather fairly old fashioned recliners seen here.   As can be seen below, they are rather impressive seats, all facing forward, with adequate width and privacy.  They remind me of what the American Airline ones might be like, if they had more pitch and went fully flat.

Continental BusinessFirst fully lie flat seats.

The full description of these seats is here.  They are 6'6" (198cm) long, 22" wide and 60" pitch between rows, and in the 777 are in a 2-2-2 forward facing configuration as seen here in this seat map. 

The previous product varied considerably.  The old 757 recliners that are being replaced are depicted here. The 777s had an angled almost flat type of seat still depicted on the Continental website.

For some time US carriers have always been seen as well behind Europe, Asia and Australasia in having the best hard product, but of those carriers Continental has been highly rated on soft product.  Continental's new seats make it more competitive than most continental European carriers (only Swiss, Iberia and Finnair have fully lie flat products outside the UK).   It is a chance for Continental to ensure its entire experience makes it a serious rival for non-US carriers.   The question is whether the merged United/Continental can meet those standard or whether the haphazard soft product of United will win the day.

Continental says by July 2011 all of its 757s will be equipped with the new seats, but it will be July 2012 by the time the 767 fleet is fully equipped.

By contrast, United only has 6 out of 46 777s equipped with its new lie flat business class.  To be fair to United, its Suite Dreams website does indicate exactly all flights and routes that are equipped.  

Blue 1 introduces business class

Finnish based subsidiary of SAS, Blue 1, is introducing a short haul business class product showing once again that the European airline sector is moving full circle into upgrading service standards on board flights.

Blue 1 Premium replaces the Economy Extra product and includes the usual premium checkin, fast track security, lounge access, full hot meal and bar service, with fully flexible tickets.  It claims to be up to 30% cheaper than competitors and has first been rolled out on services to London using the newly acquired refurbished Boeing 717s (the replacement to the MD80).  

Seating is 3-2 in both economy and Premium, although it is unclear if the middle seat of the 3 will be blanked out as is standard in competing European business classes.   

Blue1's main competitor is Finnair and so is clearly aiming at gaining more high yield business travellers.

Cathay Pacific launches new long haul business class four years after last one

In October 2006 Cathay Pacific launched a major upgrade of first, business and economy classes, the details of which were published on this blog.   Today Cathay Pacific launched a new business class only.  The reason?  A strategic mistake in 2006 that saw it take the cheap option in moving to fully lie flat seats.

The new first class has been widely acclaimed and is still seen to have been a success.   It is a big seat with enough room for a guest which folds down to a bed.  There is little good reason to change this and Cathay's high yield First Class business seems assured.

The economy class has been revolutionary in having fixed frames which the seats slid forward within for recline.   The benefit was meant to be that passengers would not face seats reclining into their faces, but there were many reports of discomfort and cramped conditions.  Not exactly a success, but economy passengers are mostly price sensitive.  

The business class has been a bit of a flop.  The intention was to catch up with the likes of Singapore Airlines and British Airways in replacing the angled lie flat seats with a fully lie flat seat.  What was chosen was an option that is a version of the herringbone seats seen on Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, yet there were two crucial differences.  First the Cathay version reclined into a fully lie flat bed, whereas the Virgin/Air NZ version flipped over into a flat bed surface.  Secondly, and more importantly it is a lot narrower.    The Cathay seats are 20" wide, the Virgin and Air NZ ones are 22" wide.  The Virgin and Air NZ ones are considered a success and widely acclaimed, the Cathay ones have been compared to coffins and claustrophobic.

Enough anecdotal reports of the Cathay product, compared to the competition, kept some business class travel from Cathay, which otherwise has excellent ground product and soft product.  From London, for example, BA, Virgin and Air NZ all offer fully lie flat seats.   Singapore Airlines and now Qantas (A380 only) both have better products for the Kangaroo route as well.   So Cathay listened and has come up with this:

Cathay Pacific New Business Class

The press release states that it has both privacy and openness.  The configuration is 1-2-1 for Boeing 777-300ERs and Airbus A330-300s for long haul routes.  Key features listed are:

- Added storage, including a Side Cabinet that doubles as privacy screen with vanity mirror;

- Side seats are outward facing towards windows;

- All seats continue to have direct aisle access.

However, the best to judge is to see it.  This PDF file from Cathay compares all of the dimensions of the current seats with the new ones.

Business Traveller also has some excellent photos on its Flickr site.  It also notes no announcement yet of a rumoured premium economy class for Cathay.

It is notable that Cathay has not announced that it is retrofitting either the Airbus A340s or the Boeing 747s with the new seats.  The A340s can be expected to be replaced by 777s and A350s in due course, but the 747s are the workhorses of key routes such as London-Hong Kong.  Cathay has not ordered replacements for these aircraft as of yet, nor indicated that it is in a hurry to do so.  Maybe it will be announcing a retrofit once it has made decisions on premium economy, or perhaps there are issues with sacrificing the number of seats on 747s given the configuration must be 1-2-1 in a rather wider cabin than exists on A330s and 777s.

The Wing lounge at Hong Kong is also to be refurbished, and added to Hong Kong hub is the new Cabin lounge, of which few details have been announced.   Also launched is a new uniform.

UPDATE:  Australian Business Traveller has perhaps the best write up about it.

Korean Air's A380s will have the least seats of all

Korean Air Airbus A380 artist's depiction

With Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas, Air France and Lufthansa all operating Airbus A380s (and despite the debacle of RR engines on the Qantas A380s), the next airline to start flying A380s in service will be Korean Air, which has ordered 10 of the type.   The aircraft will operate routes from Seoul to the US and Europe from August 2011, with some short haul training services in the interim.

Korean Air has worked hard in recent years to improve its reputation both for inflight service and safety, and it will be taking things further with its recent announcement that its A380s will have the lowest number of seats of any A380s in service to date - 400 to 450 seats.   What this should mean is more space, on average, for all passengers compared to others with A380s.  Qantas at present has the lowest seating density on A380s with 450 passengers in a four class configuration.  Korean Air will have a three class configuration, so it is better comparing with other A380 operators with similar configurations.   Of those Singapore Airlines has 471 passengers.   

Korean's on board product will include its latest first, business and economy class products as follows.  It has graphic displays of the first and business products on its website here.

Korean Air, Kosmo Suite First Class

First Class is the Kosmo Suite, a 79inch long, 26.5 inch wide seat that becomes a fully flat bed in a semi private suite with a 23in LCD monitor.  Easily a competitive product up there with the best, perhaps only surpassed by Singapore Airlines Suite Class on A380s.  Entertainment for all classes will include AVOD with 50 movies and 50 short documentaries.  There will be premium restrooms and complementary sleeping suits.   Food is apparently prepared by a dedicated chef.

Korean Air, Prestige Sleeper Seat

Business Class is the Prestige Sleeper Seat, a fully lie flat seat with some privacy dividers.  21.6 inches wide and 71 inch seat pitch puts this seat up among the best as well.  15.4 inch AVOD monitors, and catering also prepared by the first class chef.  Beyond that are the standards of business class service that are to be expected, which with Korean is typically high.

Even Korean's economy class is far from shoddy.  Industry leading 34 inch seat pitch, 10.6 inch IFE screens, and power at every seat.  That is fairly difficult to beat.

Korean might not have the very best first and business class products, but it is likely to have the best on the routes it services.  Its economy class will be difficult to beat as well.   Certainly compared to Air France and Lufthansa, which squeeze 538 and 526 passengers in their A380s, Korean Air will appear spacious in all classes, and perhaps deserves to be called the very best Skyteam airline!

SAS in flight internet to come to short haul routes

Business Traveller reports that Star Alliance carrier SAS (Scandinavian Airline Systems) is to introduce broadband services on its Boeing 737 flights from April 2011.  As these aircraft primarily fly Norwegian domestic routes and services to London, Frankfurt and Paris, it will be limited to a minority of SAS European services.  Hopefully it can then be rolled out to the Airbus A320/A321 fleet as well, as I do not expect it to be installed on the aging McDonnell Douglas MD-80 fleet.  

Mobile service is also to be offered, although it is unclear if this is just SMS/MMS or also voice calls.  Internet access will be free for business class and economy extra (SAS's short haul premium economy product), but charged in economy class.

It is curious to see Lufthansa introducing long haul internet access, but SAS introducing short haul.  Given the Lufthansa shareholding in SAS, will it be that both are testbeds for wider roll out?

Qantas upgrades Australian domestic service standards

Qantas's strategy on its core domestic network has been to split services between its low cost subsidiary - Jetstar- and its full service offering.  It has now launched an upgrade to its full service domestic offering.

Qantas domestic business class - Airbus A330

It has three key features:

- Upgraded lounges and catering in lounges;

- Upgraded catering and onboard service; and

- Next generation check in.

Next generation check in allows Qantas Frequent Flyer to automatically check in using their cards to touch in, and the card acts as a boarding pass (and boarding pass details can be automatically sent by SMS to mobile phones). 

Business lounges are to have:

• New Neil Perry designed seasonal menu changing weekly

• New tray around snack service in the morning and evening

• Island dining offering a "plate of the day" with matching wine

• Appropriate time of day meal offerings and increased portion sizes

• Enhanced environment with new furnishings including Qantas signature Akira Isogawa fabric feature walls and custom lounge furniture designed specifically for Qantas

• Qantas Signature Moooi Light pendants in contrasting sizes which animate the bar area

• Enhanced environment with fresh flowers and a new scent specifically designed for Qantas by Air Aroma

• New Apple Mac technology

Qantas Club lounges will have much the same and wood fired pizzas with a candy bar.   The key point being that frequent flyers will have reasonable options to eat before flights.

Economy class domestic in flight service will be closer to international standards:

• New Neil Perry influenced seasonal menu changing weekly with matching wines selected by the Qantas Wine Panel
• Complimentary Bar from 4pm on all CityFlyer flights
• New premium breakfasts
• New range of hot dinners
• Enhanced refreshments and seasonal fruit
• Enhanced personal recognition for Frequent Flyers by Cabin Crew

Complimentary bar on evening CityFlyer flights will be popular no doubt!

Qantas keeping the monopoly on quality economy class domestic travel.  The challenge of Virgin Blue's premium economy is being met by an upgraded business class:

• New Neil Perry designed seasonal menu changing weekly with matching wines selected by the Qantas Wine Panel
• Addition of an entrée course on trans Continent and trans Tasman flights
• Customer Service Manager hosting Business Class passengers
• Silver service in the Business Cabin
• Appropriate time of day offering (i.e. antipasto platters in the afternoon) 

Qantas is determined to remain the airline of choice for corporate travel within Australia, but the interesting thing will be to see if this sets off more competition to improve standards of service when the last few years have been primarily about price.  Qantas is setting the standard for domestic service, but the money is in the corporate market, and both Virgin Blue and Tiger Airways have found it difficult to crack into a market focused more on frequency and service than price.

UPDATED:  There will also be AVOD rolled out on some domestic aircraft (newer Boeing 767s).  Rumour was that there is to be new business class seats, but forums have only shown new seats on A330s which are akin to international premium economy.   That in itself would appear to be a downgrade.

Lufthansa to improve European service and cabins

Business Traveller reports Lufthansa is to announce major upgrades to its European service on 15 December.

New seating will be installed believed to be identical to the new Austrian Airlines product (given Austrian is owned by Lufthansa this is hardly a surprise) which will see more seats, and a slight improvement in legroom. 

The aircraft to be equipped will be Airbus A319/A320/A321s and all Boeing 737s.  However it is also understood that wardrobes will be removed (which will be a downgrade for business class) and one toilet will go on the A321s.

Catering is to get an upgrade, with more food to be provided for certain economy class flight segments.

It would appear that the Lufthansa Group has decided the future is in being seen as a carrier people want to fly on, as well as one with competitive prices.

International flights with internet access to return!

Lufthansa is to relaunch internet onboard long haul flights from January.  It is to start on routes to New York and Detroit and will offer high speed access for anyone with a laptop with wifi capability and smartphones. 

It will be followed up with the ability to use phones for SMS and MMS messages, but Lufthansa is not to allow phone calls, which will be a blessed relief to those who treat time in the sky as time to relax.

It will be free until the end of January 2011, after when there will be charges presumably (although one might expect it will remain free for First Class at least). 

However this should kickoff a flurry of interest in internet access on long haul flights, although I am far from enthused about the idea of SMS/MMS appearing on flights with endless beeps and tones from the inane who can't get the idea that if you are holding your phone, you don't need to hear when a message is received!

BMI upgrades mid haul seating in business and economy classes

Business Traveller reports on BMI's upgrade of its mid haul business class cabin.  It applies to Airbus A321 and Airbus A320 aircraft used on routes between London Heathrow and:

- Addis Ababa via Amman

- Almaty

- Baku

- Khartoum via Beirut

- Cairo

- Damascus

- Dammam

- Freetown via Malaga

- Jeddah

- Moscow

- Tbilisi

- Tehran

- Tripoli

- Yerevan

It shows photos of the new seating here.   It is basically a very nice refresh of a rather tired cabin.   Whilst BMI continues to not be profitable for its owner - Lufthansa - it is not surprising, but BMI does not exactly have a world class product for many of these routes.  The main advantage BMI has on most routes is that it is the only Western carrier, but on a few routes (e.g. Cairo) it isn't up with the competition as recliners without in seat power aren't exactly what passes as standard for what are in some cases long haul overnight flights!

Business Traveller reviewed the updated Business Class on the London-Beirut route.

Austrian Airlines upgrades short haul economy and business classes

Business Traveller reports that Austrian Airlines is launching upgrades to its European services.

Austrian new short haul economy class seats

By September 2011 new seats will be installed in economy and business class in all Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s.   Whilst at the same pitch as existing seats, Austrian claims the new seats will offer up to 5cm of additional knee and legroom, whilst also allowing effectively an additional row to be installed on the aircraft.  

Austrian is already publicising the seat with this video which shows how the seat pocket is now behind the tray table, and the seat is made of more breathable fabric.

Of course as European Business Class includes the same seats with the middle seats blanked out, it applies for both cabins.

Particularly interesting is catering.  Austrian Economy Class in Europe is having improved catering:

"In practice this means that on flights lasting more than two hours, the carrier will offer an Austrian Brettljause or a “paper bag filled with warm delicacies”. The afternoon snack will feature a range of very Austrian options in future, including a miniature Gugelhupf cake."

Business class will consistently have hot meal service on all routes, except the shortest distance flights.

Good on Austrian, pushing itself as a quality full service carrier on European internal flights.