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All Nippon Airways doubles up with new business class bed
July 12th 2019
New seat is twice as wide while economy 777 goes 10 abreast. Read More »
Business class seats introduced in recent years have tended to favour marketing impact over passenger practicality. Seats became suites and the addition of doors was triumphed even though the actual seat did not become much larger. In fact it may have decreased in width.
Not so with All Nippon Airways (ANA). Only July 11 it showcased a 777-300ER with new products in all four classes. It is the first of 12 planned 777-300ERs to have the interior. Cabin renderings showing large windows that suggest the product will also be on ANA’s forthcoming 777-9 fleet.
ANA is the launch customer for Safran’s Fusio business class product, which ANA said would be twice as wide as its current offering. The floor space allocation for the new interior appears to match ANA’s current four-class 212-seat version. This variant has 68 business class seats whereas the new version has 64 seats – a reduction of four seats with the new but more private product. There are doors, which ANA does not place at the centre of its marketing material. ANA introduced doors on first class for its A380. Business class on the A380 does not have doors.
The new product, which ANA calls The Room, replaces ANA’s staggered configuration. It keeps a 1-2-1 layout but half of the seats face backwards. Some centre seats will be touching. ANA had the staggered configuration use monuments between the centre column seats to increase privacy.
This year ANA quietly debuted on its A380 and 787-10 a darker colour palate that has replaced the bright blue and light wood colour it had used. The 777 product continues this evolution, with ANA aiming to have a warm cabin reminiscent of a Japanese home by using dark grays and three wood schemes: Rosewood, light Japanese Ash and dark Japanese Ash. ANA’s signature blue colour takes on more of an accent function.
The new version has 10 abreast economy seating. Its direct replacement had 9 abreast seating, although other ANA 777 versions had 10abreast but with different premium class mixture. However, with economy occupying only one zone, between doors four and five, the 10 abreast layout produces 116 seats – only four more than the 9 abreast version.
The overall seat count remains the same at 212 because there are four fewer business seats but four additional economy seats, but of course the revenue impact is different. First remains the same with eight seats in a 1-2-1 configuration and premium economy with 24.
ANA partnered with Acumen and architect, Kengo Kuma, for the five-year design. The product will fly from August 2, initially on Tokyo Haneda-London Heathrow. The airline said its first class will have the world’s largest 4K in-seat monitor. Business class will also have 4K in-seat monitors. The entrance and galleys were also re-designed.
