Qantas customers are set to enjoy a new standard of luxury on international flights to Asia, Hawaii and key domestic routes, with the airline unveiling the final design of new Business Suites to feature on its A330 fleet, to be progressively introduced from later this year.
Designed in collaboration with Marc Newson, the new Business Suite will be available on all 28 of Qantas’ A330 aircraft, offering the world’s first seats to allow customers to recline in their seat from take-off through to landing.* The Suites also offer fully-flat beds and direct aisle access for every Business Class passenger in a 1-2-1 layout.
Business Suite.
The Vantage XL seat, manufactured by Thompson Aero Seating, was developed and customised extensively by Qantas after ergonomic trials and inflight monitoring with a panel of experts and ongoing feedback from customers.
Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said the airline was excited to unveil the Business Suite, which would redefine the inflight experience for customers travelling on more than 15 international and domestic routes.
“We believe this product will deliver the best travel experience between Australia and Asia, and probably the best domestic travel experience anywhere in the world. We can’t wait for our customers to experience it for themselves,” Joyce said.
Qantas Creative Designer, Marc Newson, said that intelligent design and functionality were the guiding principles behind the new A330 Business Suites.
“The design was based on a real understanding of what Qantas customers needed on longer domestic flights and overnight international flights from Asia, with practicality, comfort, privacy and style in mind to create a relaxing environment to work, dine or sleep,” Newson said.
The Economy cabins on all international A330s will be fitted with a next-generation model of the award-winning Recaro seat, an earlier version of which has been extremely popular with Qantas customers on the A380 and refurbished B747 aircraft. Economy seats on the A330-200s for Qantas Domestic will also be refreshed.
Economy Class.
Customers in both cabins on the international A330 aircraft will be able to enjoy the latest Panasonic eX3 inflight entertainment system, with larger seatback touchscreens in addition to Q Streaming technology, enabling them to stream content from an extensive entertainment library directly to their own devices.
Domestic Business Class customers on A330 aircraft will also enjoy the same Panasonic eX3 system, while Economy customers will have an individual inflight entertainment experience through either seatback touchscreens or devices provided by Qantas in every seat.
The work to refresh the aircraft interiors – which will take about one month for each – will start at Qantas’ heavy maintenance facility in Brisbane this month. The first of the first international refurbished A330 will commence flying in January 2015.
* Subject to final CASA certification.
^ Business Suites and Panasonic eX3 entertainment systems to be progressively introduced on A330 aircraft from December 2014.
