the suite life

It's a case of quality not quantity for first class seating, but business class cabins are raising the game too, writes Stephanie Taylor

If you were to define 2017 as ‘the year of the suite’ for the airline industry, it would be a fair assessment. Over the last 12 months, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines are among the carriers which have decided premium travel is very much here to stay and pushed the boundaries to new heights – even if it is with fewer seats in first class.

In December 2017, Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first of five Airbus A380s featuring all-new cabin products. The aircraft is equipped with 471 seats (the largest number SIA has had on this type to date) across four classes, but the airline has cut the number of suites in first class from 12 to six. The result? A 60% increase in personal space for each passenger in the cabin.

“We firmly believe the premium market will remain relevant in air travel and we remain committed to providing a suites or first class offering on many of our routes,” says a spokesperson for SIA.

“Of course, first class may not see as much demand on some routes with short flying times, but we are mindful of such trends and deploy aircraft with a two- or threeclass configuration. However, across much of our long-haul network and even on some of our intra-asia routes, we continue to see healthy demand for first class.”

The new aircraft will be deployed on services between London and Singapore from February 16. The airline's 14 additional A380s are to be retrofitted with the new cabin products from the end of 2018, with the work scheduled to be complete by 2020.

Emirates’ new Boeing 777-300 first class suites also entered service in December 2017. Fully enclosed from floor-to-ceiling, they centre around a seat with a ‘Zero Gravity’ setting designed to promote relaxation. Another differentiator is virtual windows for the central suites, which project high-definition images from outside the aircraft using real-time technology. Like SIA, Emirates has opted for six suites onboard.

Despite the obvious wow-factor of these new offerings, the gap between business and first class is closing. In December, Qantas took delivery of the second of eight new 787-9 Dreamliners configured with 42 ‘Business Suites’, mentioning in its official press release they have been nicknamed “mini first class” by its frequent flyers.

Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker is well-known for claiming his airline’s new business class would render first class obsolete. Indeed, the airline’s new Qsuite business class, launched in March 2017, has dividers between central seats that can lower to create a double bed or even a 'quad' so that four passengers can dine or work together in a private space.

Cathay Pacific is also using business class to differentiate itself on its new Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 aircraft, which have no first class cabin. The first A350-1000 is due to be delivered this spring in time to operate the carrier’s new non-stop route between Hong Kong and Washington DC.

“The new business class seat designed by Studio FA Porsche, as seen on the Airbus A350-900 and the incoming Airbus A3501000, builds on its award-winning predecessor with numerous enhancements, including enhanced space and a superior inflight entertainment system with HD personal TVS,” says James Ginns, Cathay Pacific’s General Manager in Europe.

It's not only full-service carriers investing in premium product offerings, either. In April 2018, Eurowings will become the first low-cost carrier to introduce business class on long-haul routes. The ‘Bizclass’ product is due to premiere at ITB in Berlin this March, but the carrier – a Lufthansa subsidiary – has already revealed the product will feature a two-metre-long fully-flatbed seat and include special catering services.

Oliver Wagner, Chief Commercial Officer of Eurowings, comments: “We see strong demand for another top product from our company on routes with a higher proportion of business travel, for example on US flights from Düsseldorf to New York, Miami or Fort Myers.”

Initially, the carrier will introduce

Despite the obvious wow-factor of some new first class suites, the gap between business and first class is closing”

Bizclass on two Airbus A340-300s and  one Airbus A330-300. The former can accommodate 18 lie-flat seats while the latter will have 16.

Daniel Goering, Head of Product, Ancillary Revenues & Innovation at Eurowings, says: “By having efficient and smart solutions in the back-end, we can offer our guests a premium experience at very good value-formoney without having to cut costs at the guest experience. Overall, we stick to our low-cost concept.”

Another low-cost carrier, Norwegian, will also introduce a larger Premium cabin on its final 20 B787 Dreamliners, which will be delivered from February 2018 onwards. The 56-seat cabin marks a 60% increase in capacity, with seats having over a metre of legroom and 11-inch monitors – but there's no sign of a business class product with flatbed seating yet.

New airlines like Air France subsidiary Joon are also sticking to more traditional two and three-class configurations. It has committed to business class seats on long-haul flights that will be operated using four Airbus A340s from this spring.

On these aircraft, Joon is also offering a 21-seat premium economy cabin in a 2-3-2 layout. Its medium-haul fleet, made up of six A320s and A321s initially sourced from Air France, will only feature two classes, business and economy.

Contrary to some reports, business class is even maintaining a place in the short to medium-haul market. For example, British Airways has chosen to re-introduce a Club Europe cabin on domestic flights, featuring a 2-2 configuration with the middle seat kept free. Club Europe passengers also benefit from the use of fast-track security channels, lounges and complimentary catering on board.

“More than 350,000 customers have chosen to travel in our new Club Europe cabin since its introduction in May 2017,” says Carolina Martinoli, British Airways' Director of Brand and Customer Experience.

“All our short-haul flights are now aligned, and customers connecting from UK destinations onto our extensive global network can now choose to travel in Club for all, not just part of their journey.”

Air Astana will have a similar layout on a new A320neo aircraft to be delivered later this year. Richard Ledger, VP Marketing & Sales, says: “A separate business class cabin will use a moveable curtain to define its capacity, leaving the middle seat of three empty. The new A320neo configuration will enable the airline to provide a full business class service when demand dictates, but simultaneously enable us to align capacity with demand.”

The Kazakh carrier recently took delivery of the first of five A321neos, and has confirmed later deliveries of the type will be used for medium-haul international routes and be configured with 16 six-foot-long lieflat Thompson Vantage business class seats.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand is upping the number of Business Premier seats from 18 to 27 on four new B787-9s, as well as increasing the number of premium economy seats. The first of the four in this refreshed configuration was delivered last October and deployed on the airline’s Auckland–houston route.

Elsewhere, with a niche market of business travellers from Cyprus and the Middle East, Larnaca-based newcomer Cobalt Airlines has begun offering a twoclass configuration on its Airbus A320 aircraft. Select routes currently flying with business class include flights between Cyprus and Gatwick, Abu Dhabi and Athens.

Andrew Madar, CEO of Cobalt Airlines, explains, “What we’re offering is full-size seats, which is as close as possible to a real business class, rather than the low-cost model which is a row of three economy seats with the middle seat blocked.

The airline operates a fleet of Airbus A319s with 144 seats. “The maths works out really well. The prices for our business class are a multiple of our economy seats. We make the equivalent of an A320 with 185 economy seats, so we don’t sacrifice any revenue,” Madar concludes.

While the press has long been ringing the death knell of first class, it seems more apt to think of its reincarnation. While top-end suites are still there for the super-rich, it’s exciting to see a trickle-down effect taking place, allowing more travellers to have a first class experience without adversely affecting their business's bottom line.