yocko

flying with a 777-200 to los angeles on wednesday.... are all these pl
anes NEV-3 now?

stimpy

When I did LAX a few months back it was 2nd gen over, 3rd gen back. Different planes of course. That said, I don't see any real difference between the two seats. Just a few cosmetic details.

yocko

thanks stimpy

FTP

No!
Only 8 out of 25 77E are equipped in NEV3 and there will be no more.
AF never had any retrofit plan for the whole LH fleet.

brunos

Am I right that they only replaced the faulty NEV1 and will then replace NEV2 by NEV4 when the NEV2 seats get too old?

FTP

I don't think so. In both case, the number of new seats are too low.

Regarding the NEV3...
Very few aircrafts (only 8 77E) have been retrofitted with these seats, while much more were equipped with the NEV1. So it's very clear that the NEV3 has not been installed to replace the NEV1.

More, I have no proof, but the NEV1 & NEV2 were sooo close (only a new control panel & a lower angle), that I would not be surprised if the upgrade from NEV1 to NEV2 was in fact just a replacement of the control panel + some new settings (and maybe one or two new mechanical parts), done by Air France Industry, and did not consist of a seat replacement!

And about the only 8 retrofits on 77E aircrafts, here is my opinion...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-f...l#post14045770
IMO the order for the 5 last 77W CIO (from Jan 2007) + spare seats, or for the 6 last 77W CIO have been used to retrofit the 8 77E. And their seats have been used on the 77W CIO delivered in 2007, 2008 and 2009 while the contract with Contour was over.

Now regarding the NEV4...
Same, there will have not enough retrofits to replace the NEV2!

43 A/C are supposed to be equipped in NEV4 by the end of 2013, including all new deliveries (13 77E & 8 388). It leaves only 22 retrofits (maybe a bit more if some 77W or 388 are delivered in 2014), while there are 54 A/C currently equipped in NEV2 (excluding the 744 & 343 that are not in the scope for the NEV4 according to AF)!!!

So it doesn't match. At the very maximum, only half of the NEV2 will be replaced!

brunos

I thought that the NEV1 was a big failure and that the manufacturer went bankrupt. Hence NEV2 made by new manufacturer (on similar spec). Am I wrong again?

FTP

No. NEV1 & NEV2 are from Contour Premium Aircraft Seating.
And NEV3 & NEV4 are from B/E Aerospace

brunos

OK. Apparently 2004 was the last time Contour produced seats for commercial airlines... Good riddance as NEV3 are clearly better than NEV2.

FTP

No.

NEV1 was launched in Nov. 2003
NEV2 was launched in June 2006
NEV3 was launched in Nov. 2006

But I even doubt this company has really bankrupt

For sure the contract with AF has been broken, but has the company really bankrupt? Or have they just been bought by Premium Aircraft Interiors Group? In any case, Contour Premium Aircraft Seating is currently part of PAIG and is still operating...
http://www.paig.com/group-companies/contour.aspx
http://www.contour.aero/

And for sure in March 2006 they win the Lufthansa A380 First Class Program and in August 2007 they were exhibiting their Venus First Class Suite at Asian Aircraft Interiors Expo...
http://www.contour.aero/press/index.php
In May 2010, PAIG was still exhibiting at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2010...
http://www.paig.com/News.aspx
And the new Contour Vantage product looks like the base of the new Swiss business class...
http://www.paig.com/group-companies/contour.aspx
http://www.paig.com/getattachment/17...e/Vantage.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UReRi...layer_embedded

brunos

Hi FTP, Thanks for the info.

Zembla

I read your posts about the subject 3 times before I understood. I see one flaw. You suggest that the COI (only 2 rows J) received NEV2 from planes that were retrofitted with NEV3. What happened to the other NEV2 seats that came from the retrofit?
But mostly your thoughts on this are plausible.

In any case. If I follow you well...it is plausible that the NEV4 will actually replace NEV1 that had been modified to be NEV2!

NEVgate!

FTP

We are talking about new 77W aircrafts, empty of any seats.
AF have most probably ordered NEV3 (as the contract with Contour was over) but installed these new seats on 77E already in the fleet, and took their NEV2 to put them in the new CIO aircrafts (as very surprisingly the last CIO aircrafts were still equipped with NEV2 seats years after AF stop receiving any new seats from Contour).

I don't know. But if I'm right, then it doesn't make any difference, all old NEV1 are true NEV2 now. The only difference is that they are the older seats

Kölner

Do someone know, if the mechanics of the NEV4-seat are more silent than on the NEV3-seat?

In my opinion, the NEV3-seat is very loud if you change his postion.