Air New Zealand board chair Dame Therese Walsh and Tourism Minister Stuart Nash joined CEO Greg Foran who announced the airline will return to the Big Apple later this year. Video / NZ Herald
Passengers have got a sneak peek inside Air New Zealand's long awaited business class revamp, after photos appeared on the US Department of Transport.
The first look at the sleeper pods first surfaced via the filings by the airline's US lawyers and were picked up by the PaxEx.Aero blog.
Gone are the herringbone, angled seats in favour of a more conventional arrangement: forward-facing 1-2-1 reclining seats. It's the first look at what passengers can expect from Business Premier class on the US-bound 787-9 Dreamliners. A project which the airline has kept closely guarded.
A side view of Air New Zealand's new Business Premier Luxe suite. Photo / US Department of Transportation
"Air New Zealand will be configuring is Business Class cabin to incorporate these new seats, and requests this determination no later than April 29, 2022, so that it may proceed with certification and installation," reads the public filings from Washington firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
The pictures and details accidentally leaked by the Department of Transport show a product not unlike the lie-flat Business sleeper pods of airlines like Qatar Airways, which were recently installed on their Dreamliner fleet.
Demonstration of the side panels in Air New Zealand's Business Premium product. Photo / US Department of Transportation
A proposed seat map of the 787 was also included revealing more about the design of the seat layout. Intriguingly, the divisive 'herringbone' formation which has been on the aircraft since 2014 has been raked back to a more modest 24 degree angle to the aircraft fuselage, for a more front-facing profile.
Further details reveal the seats will be 20.5″ (52cm) wide, extending into 80.25″ (204cm) flat beds, with a seat pitch of 45″ (114.5cm).
The leaked layout of passengers aboard Air New Zealand's proposed 787-9 configuration. Photo / US Department of Transport
However the 1-2-1 configuration and privacy screens mean that they are likely to be a more deluxe (read 'expensive') option, with fewer seats per flight. With what appears to be only four 'Business Premier Luxe' seats in the front row, these options are likely to appeal to high rolling business travellers or the high-value tourists that New Zealand is hoping to court with a return to international travel.
The distinctive 2014 'herringbone' Business Class seats on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner received mixed reviews. Photo / Brett Phibbs
These photos are the first look inside the Airline's secretive "Hangar 22" facility in Auckland, claiming to be "a mock-up Business Premier cabin in our research and development facilities". The four-year project has been about refitting the Dreamliner fleet for long-distance luxury travel.
This includes destinations like the highly anticipated, direct New York Flights, scheduled for September.
Air New Zealand confirmed the photos are genuine, and part of safety submissions made to the US Department of Transport.
Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty said the photos concerned show plans for accessible seating and that adapting the product for customers with disabilities was a focus of the enhanced aircraft offering.
Air New Zealand confirmed that accessibility would be a big part of the enhanced business product. Photo / US Department of Transportation
"This is a very early submission and as part of the process, we are required to get approval from authorities such as the US Department of Transport to ensure the seats meet the latest design and safety requirements specified," she said.
Adapting the product for customers with disabilities was a focus said the airline. Photo / US Department of Transport
Prior projects such as the lie-flat beds were also submitted via the process in order to be allowed to fly internationally.
The airlines says that more than 80,000 design and engineering hours have gone into the new Business Premier seats, along with 18 months of customer research and testing, so
Geraghty said there is a lot more under development in Hangar 22 still to be revealed and "by no means is this the extent of what we're doing."
The submission appeared on the DoT website on Mar 29, 2022, after inadvertently being made public domain. The request for the new configuration as an 'equivalent alternative' to current seating is currently under review, hoping to be accepted by next month.
