On Friday May 4, Etihad held a press conference to present the new Boeing 787-9 and A380-800 layouts it will be deploying in 2014.
These new layouts lay the foundations for new travel standards for the industry, at least in Premium classes, with the introduction of a class above First, a cabin called The Residence , which targets a specific clientele, and a First even more spacious than on its current aircraft.
The introduction of a class above the First
The presentation of The Residence , the ultimate cocoon of luxury within Etihad’s new First cabin on board the company’s A380s, has shaken up the airline industry.
Etihad has therefore revealed a new transport cabin, which can be used alone or in pairs, and consists of 3 private suites: a living room, with two very comfortable seats and a table for dining; a bedroom, equipped with a double bed; a private bathroom with a shower. You can discover this suite in pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvnVRoGcJ1w&feature=youtu.be
With all this space, the price for this cabin could only be very high: £25k for a London-Abu Dhabi round trip, as you can see in the attached screenshot.
Note: the price is the same for one or two people, the cabin can be used by two.
At this price, this suite can only appeal to a particular clientele: that of the Emirates, who do not look at the expense. In any case, one cannot imagine a company paying this amount, even for a manager.
First Class apartments in 1-1 configuration
In its A380, Etihad is also introducing new First Class suites, which it calls The Apartment . These suites, although having an attractive decor, are not very exceptional, except for their size: 5m2, the largest in the industry and which justifies the 1-1 configuration chosen by Etihad .
The great innovation also lies in the fact that the bed is not in the direction of the plane, but perpendicular to it, allowing certain suites to merge to create double beds (as on Singapore Airlines). Here is the sequence in pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1-hz4_LlnE&feature=youtu.be
In terms of pricing, this cabin has a cost substantially equal to that of the existing suites in Etihad aircraft.
An Airbus A380 that does not overestimate the need for Premium seats
If, with the improvements presented, one could have said that Etihad is betting too much on its Premium customers, it is not so. The carrier’s A380 will have 498 seats, which puts it in line with what is done in other airlines using the Airbus super-jumbo, as shown in this table (Wikipedia)
This shows that Etihiad does not overestimate the needs for Premium cabins, and reserves its entire lower deck for the Economy cabin. Also, the configuration chosen is not so greedy as that in terms of space: even in 1-1, the Première suites are contained in a limited space between the staircase and the galley of the upper deck, thanks to their perpendicular arrangement .
Deployment of these new cabins limited to the A380
The big problem is that these amenities will only be available on the 10 Airbus A380s ordered by the company, the 787s being equipped with more standard amenities, such as bed seats in Business and rather classic Suites in First Class.
Equipping 10 aircraft with this configuration is different from equipping the entire fleet…
Thus, unlike Emirates, Etihad will maintain a different experience between its types of aircraft for its first class:
- The A380s, the best equipped, with The Residence, The Apartment
- B787s with new generation suites
- The A330/A340 and B777 with the old generation Suites which will be retrofitted with the new Suites in due course
- The A320s with the regional product
Note: The Business and Economy products, also reviewed, will be installed on the entire twin-aisle fleet.
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