Air New Zealand has revealed a new economy seat for its A320/A321neo fleet. The airline has worked with UK aerospace seating company Acro Aircraft Seating on the slimline design (based on the Series 6 model, which entered the Airbus BFE seat catalog earlier this year), a key feature of which is wider seats. The window and aisle seats will be 1cm wider than those on the airline’s current international Airbus fleet (we don’t have the exact width, but they are listed as being 17in), with the middle seat being 3cm wider.
The design also features a new seat cover developed in conjunction with New Zealand subsidiary Flight Interiors, for which the company conducted customer testing that they claim demonstrated superior comfort levels for longer compared with the existing seats.
“The slightly wider middle seat helps balance out the fact that window and aisle seat customers enjoy a greater sense of space,” stated Air New Zealand’s general manager for customer experience, Anita Hawthorne. “We currently have many customers who state a preference for window or aisle seats and it’s possible the new design may see the middle seat get a boost in popularity.”
Air New Zealand has 13 A320neo aircraft on order to replace its current A320 fleet. The airline will receive a combination of A320neos and A321neos.