The Economy Skynest could be a game changer for Air NZ. Photo / Supplied
The Economy Skynest could be a game changer for Air NZ. Photo / Supplied
Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran knows that a warm Kiwi welcome can only get his airline so far.
Although seats are selling fast right now as travel booms, competition for long-haul passengers will grow more intense and the airline's big rivals will return in force. That's why there'srelief around settling on the big cabin overhaul - the biggest transformation of "hard product" in nearly two decades.
While the soft side of the proposition - its crew - consistently wins praise from passengers, Foran said aside from an occasional refresh, interiors had been left unchanged. This development stall pre-pandemic came as a flood of airlines brought in new planes and luxe premium spaces to attract high-yielding customers.
"We've put on Skycouch, which was a world-first, but if you think about it there's not been significant change now for the best part of 20 years," he said.
But after five years of work by a dedicated team of 10, some 170,000 design hours, and 2571 hours of intense customer research, the airline today revealed the result.
"We're making the most of the real estate. This gets us right back in the game," said Foran.
There's a wait, however. The first of eight Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners originally expected at the end of next year are now not due until mid-2024 because of production delays at Boeing.
But the changes run from nose to tail and new seats will come from Wales, Germany and North Carolina. Foran is not disclosing what has been spent on development or what installing new cabins will cost but says part of the proceeds of the recent $1.2 billion capital raise will go on the revamp.
In comes a new high-end section of its Business Premier section. The eight Business Premier Luxe seats with sliding doors and a small seat allow dining with a companion.
More airlines are using privacy doors in business class, most notably Qatar Airways with its more enclosed and more numerous Q-Suites per plane. But Air New Zealand, with a higher proportion of leisure passengers rather than corporate travellers, isn't in the same market.
And the 1.14m high doors must meet regulatory requirements.
Louise Leaupepe, programme manager at Air New Zealand, said crew need direct view access of a certain percentage of passengers.
"If you go any higher then you have to start having cameras and things like that and we just really feel like for our customers' privacy issues that's not somewhere you want it to go," she said.
"Also, the higher the walls go, the more claustrophobic people start feeling and so we did a lot of customer research to make sure that we were giving our customers the privacy that they needed but without making them feel claustrophobic."
Louise Leaupepe, programme manager at Air NZ in the Business Premier mock-up. Photo / Grant Bradley
In the new cabins, out go the sharply angled business seats that afford little privacy in favour of a setup that is more in keeping to that other premium carriers offer with seats returning now at a 28-degree angle and a privacy screen.
There's more storage, and while at 55cm wide they are the same as existing Business Premier, during a brief sitdown the new setup feels more spacious and logical - the seat becomes a bed with the press of one button instead of what could be a taxing exercise with existing seats if you tried to do it yourself. The new bed will be slightly longer and in response to overwhelming feedback, the memory foam mattress stays.
Premium Economy has rigid shell seat backs - recalling the popular Spaceseat of a decade ago - and that means passengers behind don't have seat back in front pressing on knees.
In Economy the airline is offering more choice - and more ways of charging extra - with its Economy Stretch seats. They have a meaningful 10cm more seat pitch and are rebooting what could be a real game-changer for those sitting down the back; Skynest.
Air New Zealand Business Premier Luxe seat becomes a large bed. Photo / Supplied
The six sleeping pods fit near the rear door in place of nine seats and a galley. The space will be bought for parts of the flight at an as-yet undisclosed price and for a length of time that is still being researched. It is a world-first for airlines and still needs regulatory approval although the airline is confident of gaining it.
The airline's chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty would not be drawn on what sort of premium the airline can charge for Business Premier Luxe.
"We have had some research that's been undertaken and so we have a range - we're just working through that now from a cost base perspective as well."
Throughout the new planes - and the 14 existing aircraft that will be retrofitted over time - there are other features such as Sky Pantry, a snack and stretch spot in Economy and Premium Economy bigger Inflight Entertainment (IFE) screens throughout, a new, sharper colour palette with an emphasis on deep violets and teals. There's a range of measures aimed at getting passengers rested and hopefully to sleep - the mark of success the airline is aiming for on flights that will stretch up to 17.5 hours.
Very slow-moving video scenes to relax passengers will play through the seat back entertainment. The frequent flyers who participated in years of tests and research were adamant about keeping IFE - regarded by some airlines as too heavy and costly.
Dave McRobie, a senior designer on the future aircraft experience programme said "Ultimately customers will come to us looking for a choice and for us to provide them with novel entertainment options that they can't necessarily download anywhere else and haven't had the time to go and see for themselves."
Foran added that news and live sport were in the mix for planes, now increasingly equipped with free Wi-fi.
Much of the mock up at "Hangar 22" in Auckland's Freemans Bay is still made of wood rather than the finished product although has evolved impressively from a simple foam block the project started with.
