Air New Zealand’s new business class seats: The eye-watering cost revealed

Air New Zealand is confident that new Boeing 787 Dreamliners especially configured for its longest flights will join the fleet from the end of next year, despite delays that have hit the planemaker’s delivery schedule.

Head of airline programme Kerry Reeves said the first two of eight new aircraft are due from September or October next year. The planes will have new business premier and business premier luxe seats, which he said will cost an average of up to $450,000 to build – nearly half the average price of a New Zealand house. That includes development, building and installation into the aircraft

Business class cabins are some of the most expensive real estate in the world and the seats that fill them have to be light but strong, incorporating motors, seat controls, entertainment screens and charging technology compatible with travellers’ devices. The seats must also meet rigorous safety standards.

Total costs of Economy seats are around $25,000 each.

Air New Zealand’s Business Premier seats are being built in Wales by multinational firm Safran. They will also be retrofitted into the airline’s 14 existing Dreamliners as part of a complete overhaul of cabins including new premium economy seats, economy seats with thinner shells and more legroom options, and the new Skynest bunk beds.

The new business premier seats replace the airline’s outdated herringbone layout and seats, widely acknowledged as being well past their use-by date.

Reeves said the existing seats were great for sleeping but not great for privacy.

“Especially if someone across the aisle takes their shoes off, and this tends to happen. And not so good for technology,” said Reeves at a media launch of the airline’s new business premier menu.

“This seat layout here was designed in 2002 before the iPhone was even thought about so it gives you a sense of how far behind it is.”

The new seats would replicate or enhance the sleep experience but there would be more privacy, better technology and storage, and they don’t take up any more floor area than the existing ones. Controls and features of the seat were more intuitive, and they would be oriented to allow window views. The lack of views in the existing angled herringbone layout is a source of complaint among passengers.

The new cabin will have two seat types, with business premier luxe passengers getting a 1.14m-high sliding door and more space. Reeves said there would be a premium of about $1000 between standard business premier and luxe on the longhaul routes operated by the aircraft into which they are fitted.

He said the brand-new planes would come with just 214 seats in total, which he believed was the lowest seat count on a Dreamliner. They would be concentrated on the US east coast, where premium demand was strongest.

The existing Code 2 Dreamliners used on non-stop flights to New York and Chicago have 275 seats but were unsuited to the routes, which are among the longest in the world.

“The configuration of those aircraft isn’t ideally suited for that route. They don’t have enough premium seats and have too many people on board to be efficient in its operation.”

The airline has had to restrict sales for some New York-Auckland flights to reduce weight because of strong headwinds, and had to divert to Nadi to refuel three times in the first months of operating the route.

The new planes would have eight business premier luxe seats, 34 business premier, 52 premium economy, 16 economy stretch (with a 35 inch, or 89cm, pitch), 27 skycouch and 78 economy. The skynest will be available for economy and premium economy passengers for a four-hour period, at a cost of about $400 to $600.

Reeves said the skynest environment and the time spent in it was similar to that of crew rests. The airline believed passengers’ propensity to pay dropped off after four hours.

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.