Air New Zealand's flat beds in economy

27^th Feb 2020

Air New Zealand is to put economy travellers to sleep. It has unveiled a new lie-flat prototype sleep product for economy class travellers.

Air New Zealand has revealed a new sleeping-pod prototype for economy passengers as it prepared to operate ultra-long-haul flights between Auckland and New York, which will last 17 hours and 40 minutes.

The sleeping pod is known as the Economy Skynest, the prototype is shaped in a V with six horizontal sleeping bays lining either side.

The idea is that economy passengers have a regular seat, but can book a set number of hours to lie down in the bunks - at an extra fee of course.

The bunks would be right at the back of the new Boeing 787-10 which is on order to operate the new service. The bunks would be in the area currently occupied by toilets and the galley.

It is yet another attempt by the small Kiwi airline to innovate, after the very short-lived Premium Economy Spaceseat, which has now been replaced by conventional premium economy, and the Skycouch whereby the legrest of an economy seat flips up, turning three economy seats into a bed for an adult and two children.

"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 travellers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out," said the airline's chief marketing and customer officer Mike Tod. He added the development of the prototype was a direct response to a need for more passengers to sleep more comfortably on long flights.

However, it may be some time before the seat is in place. The proposed Auckland to New York route will start in 2021, and Air New Zealand will decide whether to install Economy Skynest pods after the route's first year.

General manager of customer experience Nikki Goodman said the pod had been developed in consultation with customers and cabin crew.

"This is one of the highlights of three years' intensive work centred on customer wellbeing. We're sure this innovation is going to be a game-changer for the industry and bring significant improvements to long-haul flying," she said.

"We expect other airlines will want to explore licensing the Economy Skynest from us just as they have with the Economy Skycouch," she said.

Air New Zealand's flat beds in economy

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