Originally Posted by
r2d2
I'm kind of surprised that while AY is implementing a completely new kind of a construction with the business seat, they don't pilot or test it first by flying a few months with one aircraft with the new seats and collecting experiences. Instead they have started retrofitting the existing aircraft before a single passenger flight has been flown with the new seats.
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I agree you have a point, but I see a lot of reasons why not.
First of all, that would have stolen their thunder. They wanted a big release. A splash, not a public live project "
we might fit this to all planes if public reaction is positive". Customer participation can be good, but sometime a corporation needs some guts and make a decision. They are the only ones with the full pictures. Customers would like the impossible, like first class suites at the price of premium economy.
Also, it would have been complicated to roll out together with the W class. They need enough planes fitted with W immediately or that class cannot be sold. It would be costly to have some planes fitted with W at one time and fitted with new J at a later time.
Also, it would have presented some purchasing issues. "40 J seats with option of another 760 seats" would likely be much more expensive than committing to 800 seats at once.
There still is some sort of step-wise rollout over 2 years. The seat will go into production on a limited number of planes initially. If their purchasing did it right, they have secured options to modify details during the rollout, having later planes fitted with a "version2" seat, and possibly having the first planes retro-fitted by the end of the total rollout. Remember they are "launch-customer". A smart manufacturer would also want it to be a stunning success. It is in their interest too that things can be adjusted during the rollout.