Lie-Flat Economy Seats Are (Almost) Here
And now for something completely different: lie-flat seats in economy.
Air New Zealand, the airline that brought you the Economy Skycouch™ is bringing even more opportunity to get horizontal in economy with the installation of new, lie-flat sleeping pods. Although the sleeping pods are still in the prototype stage, it’s still pretty exciting to see a fresh take on traveling long-haul in economy.
The Economy Skynest
Air New Zealand developed the Economy Skynest–featuring six full-length lie-flat sleeping pod–after three years of research and development and the input of “more than 200 customers at its Hangar 22 innovation center in Auckland.” While the seat isn’t in production yet, Air New Zealand has filed the patent and trademark applications. However, Air New Zealand must still seek regulatory approval and certification for the pods.
Air New Zealand’s Head of Airline Programs Kerry Reeves says that the scale of the challenge in developing the Economy Skynest and working through its certification with the necessary regulators is immense compared with the development of the Economy Skycouch.
In it for the Long Haul
As direct flights get longer–like Air New Zealand’s upcoming Auckland to New York which will service at up to 17 hours, 40 minutes one way–the prospect of being in it for the long haul seems less daunting (and expensive) for passengers who don’t find themselves in the front of the plane.
Says Air New Zealand’s Chief Marketing and Customer Officer Mike Tod, “We have a tremendous amount of development work underway looking at product innovations we can bring across all cabins of the aircraft. A clear pain point for economy travelers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out. The development of the Skynest is a direct response to that challenge.”
How It Will Work
The plan is to allow economy passengers to book the Economy Skynest in addition to their Economy seat. This sounds like access to the Skynest will be communal, but the press release is unclear on whether or not each pod will be private or shared.
However, because it seems logistically difficult to navigate turnover (changing the bedding, waking passengers up) we’re assuming that you book a Skynest pod for the flight. Then you have the option to return to your seat to eat and watch the in-flight entertainment.
There is no in-flight entertainment in the berth. But it does come with “a full-size pillow, sheets, and blanket, earplugs along with privacy curtains and lighting designed for sleep. We are exploring other features such as separate reading light, personal device USB outlet, and ventilation outlet.”
Each pod is “in excess of 200cm (6.56 ft)” in “overall length” and “in excess of 58cm (1.9 ft)” in “width at the shoulder area.”
Where Will It Go?
Unclear. Says the press release, “The exact positioning of the Economy Skynest within the aircraft has still to be confirmed, however, it will be in the Economy cabin.”
When Is It Coming?
Air New Zealand will make a final decision on whether to operate the Skynest next year after it has assessed the performance of its inaugural year of Auckland-New York operations. So, late 2021–if it comes at all. Air New Zealand’s Skynest isn’t a foregone conclusion, but this is an official announcement that Air New Zealand is pursuing the option.
And, says Reeves, “It was a prize worth chasing and one that we think has the potential to be a game-changer for economy class travelers on all airlines around the world.”
And even if the Skynest doesn’t arrive on time, it’s good to see some airlines thinking outside of the box.
Want to join the FlyerTalk on the topic? Head to the Skynest FlyerTalk forum thread.
So what happens if there is turbulence, and the staff directs the pax to buckle up? Would there be some type of buckle apparatus that would operate with a prone pax?
Agree with the comment that airlines sell space in sq. feet (or sq. meters). I estimate that the combination of a bed like this and a coach seat will take the space of ~2.3 existing coach seats (full calculation and assumptions below). That is probably somewhat more space-efficient than a business class seat, but not overwhelmingly so. More likely, they will sell this to a couple travelling together who will buy two coach seats and one bed (similar to how they sell their sky couch today). On that basis, this would be about 1.65x the space of a coach seat. If they can charge 2x coach, they would make money and probably sell a fair number of these seats. It would also be a nice way to travel (one person can sleep while the other relaxes with space to spread out across two seats). Based on dimensions given and the picture: 1) It is 1.9 feet at the widest part, tapering at the feet. Add a little for the divider at the head between the two beds, we get ~4 feet of width at the head-end of a unit (a "unit"=6 beds). 2) It seems to be v-shaped (probably so that the "head-end" of one unit could fit slightly into the open foot end of the next unit). 3) Assume they will put this in the middle section of economy, which is 4 seats across or ~68 inches (assuming 17" economy seat width), which works with an assumption that they unit is 48" wide at the head (and 68" at the foot), since they are in a v-shape or herringbone). 4) The bed is 6.5 feet (78 inches), but let's assume they can put at least 12 inches of one unit into the next (because of the herringbone shape. Since they run 32 inches of pitch in economy, this would take up about 2 rows of coach. Thus, a set of 6 will take the space of 8 coach seats. Now, they say you will also get a coach seat, so 6 passengers will take the space of 14 coach seats or 2.3x the current space allocated to a coach passenger.
For a long-haul flight, renting it for 6 hours would make a lot of difference to somebody flying in economy.
Any flight over 12 hrs is nothing short of abusive to Flyers in a crowded economy cabin, especially those with new tight seating configurations.
The problem with shared resource model is that NZ will need dedicated project managers to allocate and enforce scheduling (and subsequent cleaning) the nests after each passenger’s use. It should be sold as a separate seat for the entire flight duration. Get rid of the SkyCouch and the twin econ plus and sell this product as the economy add-on.