Looking for a very different seat on board? Head to China, where one airline is finally set to fly with the Molon Labe Staggered Seat design that promises up to 5″ extra width for the middle seat passenger. And if could be flying in the Americas in the not too distant future, too.
Seats & Cabin
Avant, GX, Super Diamond for the new Hong Kong Airlines A350
Hong Kong Airlines celebrated the delivery of a new tranche of A350s this week, bringing new inflight products to the carrier. The airline’s early A350 deliveries were originally built for Azul; the current set were meant for HK Airlines all along. That means different seats, entertainment systems and inflight connectivity kit on board.
Icelandair comes up short on revenue, loses its CEO
Icelandair faces a significant revenue shortfall in 2018 owing to growing competition and mistakes in growing its route network. The parent company of the airline also needs to find a new CEO. Björgólfur Jóhannsson took full responsibility for the missed numbers and tendered his resignation to the Icelandair Group Board of Directors.
New interiors, more wifi coming to LATAM
LATAM is set to retrofit more than 200 aircraft as part of a major update to its fleet. The carrier will invest $400 million to refresh the interiors on both long-haul and short-haul planes, with new seats and more Gogo 2Ku flying.
Best of Farnborough 2018: Embraer’s big win
Bigger is not always better. In the case of orders at Farnborough 2018 smaller airlines and orders are more likely to upset the industry (in a mostly good way). Embraer is party to one such order, with huge potential, even if it is not for 200 aircraft.
Major expansion coming for Delta Premium Select
Passengers won’t pay for more space on planes. This is the commonly accepted mantra and driving logic behind the ongoing “densification” efforts to squeeze more seats onto planes. And, for the most part, that’s proven true. A growing subset of travelers are, however, willing to pay more. Delta Air Lines’ Premium Select will expand across the widebody fleet to capture even more of that revenue.
JetBlue Grows Up with A220 order: Big shoes (and planes) to fill
JetBlue’s move to dump the Embraer E190 fleet in favor of the Bombardier CSeries newly branded Airbus A220 comes as a surprise only in terms of timing. And as JetBlue’s fleet evolves to include the CSeries A220 (and A321neo) a number of questions arise over the carrier’s growth plans.
JetBlue takes the A220, refreshing its smaller aircraft fleet.
JetBlue signed on as the very first customer for the newly renamed Airbus A220-300, formerly known as the CSeries CS300. The firm order for 60 frames, plus options for another 60, was announced just hours after Airbus hosted an event in Toulouse formally unveiling the new branding.
Delta’s CRJ900 order brings Atmosphère, improved passenger experience to the skies
A new cabin layout is coming to Delta’s newest CRJ900s starting later this year. Some 20 new planes will feature Bombardier’s Atmosphère third generation interior, with larger bins and a much bigger lav. Sure, it is still more regional jets, but it could be a lot worse.
WestJet Plus goes legit with Recaro CL4710
Euro-biz is going away on some WestJet planes. The carrier is upgrading its WestJet Plus offering to feature the Recaro CL4710 in a proper 2-2 cabin layout. This further moves the company away from its LCC roots and into a role as a global premium operator.