Etihad Airways is flexing its premium muscle, since it reveals a new first and business class experience.
The ABU Dhabi carrier announced on Monday the highly anticipated cabins that arrive at its Airbus A321LR aircraft, the first of which it is expected to be included in the fleet in the coming weeks and begins with commercial operations on August 1.
The A321LR will be the first a single aisle of Ethad with Premium Lieve seats. A handful of other nose updates are also expected.
When to go: These are the best moments to buy an international flight.
Here is everything you need to know.
Airbus A321LR First Class
Just at the front of the plane, you will find the new first class of Etihad, which consists of only two seats in a 1-1 arrangement.
These seats are organized in an inverse spike configuration with sliding privacy doors and a friend seat so that a partner joins a meal or that is updated.
The suites also have a 20 -inch 4K entertainment screen with bluetooth connectivity and Qi wireless load pads.
This is the first time that Etihad offers a true first class product in a narrow body plane. “We want to create that firm’s first class experience in front of when it takes off with an A380 in London or Paris and will ensure a first product consisting of its final destination,” said Arik de, the main income and commercial official of Etihad.
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In addition to the seat itself, Etihad will bring its soft first class product, from elevated food to the luxurious comforts, to passengers sitting in one of these seats.
While Etihad is marketing and selling these seats as first class, travelers based in the United States could be familiar with these products such as “Executive Class Plus”.
These seats have additional storage space and an Ottoman and hollow area larger due to the curvature of the plane and the walls of the bulkheads, and different airlines decide to load for the additional space in different ways.
In the United States, most airlines simply charge a relatively modest seat update rate on an executive class rate to sit in one of these seats.
Meanwhile, Etihad is going to the first class.
“All airlines that have this more business product do not have the first class in their DNA. So, for them, it is a little different trip than for us. Our trip is more like what you have seen with Starux, [which also offers first class in a bulkhead seat]”Explained.
Keep in mind that there will be no cabin partition between the first and cleft seats in these aircraft, and presumably access to the bathroom between the two cabins will be shared.
Etihad Airbus A321LR Executive Class
Etihad will also offer 14 business class pods at the Airbus A321LR.
These seats are also arranged in a 1-1 configuration, but they have a little less space than the first class seats.
They face the window, offering a little more privacy than similar pods oriented to the halls, but have no sliding doors.
While Etihad considered adding doors to these seats, there is an interesting reason why the airline did not.
The door is heavy, and Etic operates in one of the most popular regions in the world. If Etihad install doors in executive class, you would have to restrict the range of these planes, which partially defeats the purpose of obtaining the LR variant, or long -range, of the A321.
It was a “compensation,” said De, who reiterated that Biz passengers should still enjoy their experience on board even without doors.
In terms of connectivity, executive class passengers can expect a 4. -inch 4K TV screen, Bluetooth wireless connectivity and Qi wireless load pads.
In addition, the airline is equipping all its A321LR with Viasat satellite Wi-Fi, giving a service with flying capacity on routes operated by this plane. Note that Etihad offers free Wi-Fi for selected premium passengers and free messages for everyone else.
Etihad Airbus A321LR Economic Class
The rest of the plane has 144 economic seats, 36 of which have an additional leg space.
The seats measure 18.4 inches wide and have a 4K return monitor of 13.3 inches, as well as USB load ports.
Etihad says that it aims to “provide a wide body comfort to the narrow body plane”, but we will have to wait until we try it to decide if we agree with that evaluation.
Etihad Airbus A321LR Strategy
Etihad will receive 10 new airbus A321LR aircraft for the end of the year, and has a three -pointed deployment plan.
The first is to introduce first class and business class suites in the markets that are not ready for the ability of a wide body, explained De. Example markets include Chiang Mai in Thailand and Algiers in Algeria.
The second destination style is one that is within a radius of approximately four hours of Abu Dhabi, but that guarantees a product of great weight. “A great example of that is the Seychelles,” said De.
Finally, the Airbus A321LR will be implemented in selected commercial markets to help Etihad offer more frequency. An example of this is Paris, which is not ready for a third body flight, but could work well with 160 more seats (in the A321LR), according to de.
He said the team will evaluate how its implementation strategy will continuously and make updates as necessary.
In addition, DES mentioned that the airline will also implement these new cabins in other narrow body aircraft that serve similar medium reach markets, but it was not stopped in providing more details.
That will come later
While the Usher of the A321LR cabins is a new experience of narrow body passengers for Etihad, there are larger changes in the horizon.
Trounted a handful of updates in the coming months, all the vision of the 2030 trip of the airline that includes a larger fleet, more passenger traffic and a significantly enlarged network.
“Our 787-9s, 787-10 and 777 will go through a renewal program. We will announce the details in terms of the cabin, probably in six months, but everything will be elevated. It is a project of one billion dollars,” said De.
The other cabin that will soon be improved is the residence, the apartment product in the sky of Etihad in the Airbus A380, which will see some improvements announced by the end of the year.
“It’s time to refresh him a little,” said De.
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