Wall St. Journal: Airlines Dial Up Pampering for Business Class
Aug 14, 2017, 8:44 am
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Wall St. Journal: Airlines Dial Up Pampering for Business Class
From The Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2017:
Airlines Dial Up Pampering for Business Class
With privacy panels and mini suites, carriers are vying to lure premium passengers, but costs spiral
Airlines are making bigger bets with premium passengers, offering luxury seats that are loaded with doodads that could push up the cost of outfitting a plane by millions of dollars.
The new breed of seats for business fliers can convert to a lie-flat bed, with 15-inch display screens, entertainment systems that offer hundreds of channels and privacy panels sealing off fellow passengers. Some of these posh seats can be grouped together to form a walled ‘mini suite.’
Such seats cost the carrier anywhere from roughly $50,000 to as much as $500,000, according to industry officials. Carriers, including Delta Air Lines Inc., Qatar Airways and United Continental Holdings Inc. are vying to offer these latest innovations even as they find ways to squeeze more revenue out of coach cabins with tighter seating.
Balance of article here but may require a subscription.
And is it any wonder why costs for these seats are spiraling when you have this: "Development and safety testing adds to the cost, and airlines’ preference for unique seats means production runs may be less than a dozen for the most exclusive offerings, and seldom reach into the hundreds."
Airlines Dial Up Pampering for Business Class
With privacy panels and mini suites, carriers are vying to lure premium passengers, but costs spiral
Airlines are making bigger bets with premium passengers, offering luxury seats that are loaded with doodads that could push up the cost of outfitting a plane by millions of dollars.
The new breed of seats for business fliers can convert to a lie-flat bed, with 15-inch display screens, entertainment systems that offer hundreds of channels and privacy panels sealing off fellow passengers. Some of these posh seats can be grouped together to form a walled ‘mini suite.’
Such seats cost the carrier anywhere from roughly $50,000 to as much as $500,000, according to industry officials. Carriers, including Delta Air Lines Inc., Qatar Airways and United Continental Holdings Inc. are vying to offer these latest innovations even as they find ways to squeeze more revenue out of coach cabins with tighter seating.
Balance of article here but may require a subscription.
And is it any wonder why costs for these seats are spiraling when you have this: "Development and safety testing adds to the cost, and airlines’ preference for unique seats means production runs may be less than a dozen for the most exclusive offerings, and seldom reach into the hundreds."
