Business bliss

Whatever we don’t yet know about Qantas’s new staggered full flat bed seats, it’s clear they’re a step ahead of Virgin Australia’s newer A330s, previously the holder of the cross-country crown.

Isn’t competition in the domestic market great?

In terms of construction, Qantas’s new Marc Newson-designed seat is similar to the Emirates A380 or Etihad business class seat, also seen on Thai Airways’ A380 and some of Airberlin’s A330s.

Unfamiliar with the staggered seating layout? Imagine an eight-across cabin of full flat beds, but with the aisle seats stepped back halfway and with a small gangway behind each aisle seat, from the aisle to the window or middle seats. That makes 1-2-1 in each row, with alternate centre section seats being pairs of middles or separated aisles.

It’s space-efficient — the only “lost” area of the cabin is in the gangways and the half-seat’s worth of space at the front and rear of each column of seats — and has the all-important full flat bed mode plus direct aisle access.

(Direct aisle access is the current big thing in business, since aisle passengers get to avoid their window and middle neighbours vaulting like a gymnast across them to get out in the middle of the night.)

Yet there are winners and losers in the Qantas cabin, as frequent travellers up front will gladly share. Aisle seats are shorter since they lose around six inches to the gangway. And middle seats can feel intimately close — delightful if travelling with your other half, less so if you’re sitting next to Pat from Accounting.

There’ll be fewer seats in each cabin than today too. While Qantas hasn’t released a seat layout (or anything more than three mockups), cabin geometry suggests somewhere around 26-28 seats in the roughly 12-metre front cabin of the longer A330-300 and probably 20-22 seats in the three-metre shorter Zone A of the A330-200.

Of course, that assumes that the business cabin ends at door 2, and depends on the location of galleys, closets and lavatories.

By comparison among carriers with full flat beds and direct aisle access, in Zone A Virgin Atlantic’s A330-300s have 33 full flat seats, Delta’s have 36, Cathay’s 24 and US Airways’ 28.

Qantas currently fits 30 first-generation angle-flat Skybeds on A330-300s, with the domestic -200s equipped with 36 recliner seats (plus six of the “workspace” blocked middle seats).

So, in exchange for space, comfort and the snooze factor, tickets and upgrades will be harder to come by.

Marc Newson’s design is as attractively elegant as ever, with rich burgundy seats, black shells and chic wood/metal accents. Top marks for an unmistakably Qantas product.

But window seat fans will also have noticed that the side aisle passenger’s magazine rack extends a half metre across the side table, and likely across a window. That means that they’ll want more than ever to make sure they get a window-window, not an aisle-window.

Qantas has also certified the seat to operate in recline mode on takeoff and landing, only previously possible on flip-over style seats like Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class, also licenced to Air New Zealand. That’s a plus for shorter overnight flights.

But the real question is: what will Virgin Australia do? Nobody is surprised that John Borghetti has a plan. The boffins in Brisbane’s Virgin Village have a number of options. Singapore Airlines’ new business seat is an evolution of the SQ super-wide bed and SQ owns a good chunk of VA – as does Etihad, which uses a similar seat to Qantas.

The Atlantic and Australian Virgins are back on speaking terms now that VA isn’t low-cost DJ any more. And Virgin Atlantic’s new Upper Class Dream Suite seats are excellent in bed mode, among the most dense available. (They also come with a walk-up bar.)

European seat-maker Recaro is also promising a seat plus separate bed next year – an option seen only on Lufthansa’s refitted 747-400s since the days of the flying boats.

But the best seat in the sky is Cathay Pacific’s new reverse herringbone layout, an evolution of the Zodiac Sicma Aero Cirrus first seen on US Airways and elsewhere since.

With no love lost between Cathay and Qantas, could John Borghetti play his Hong Kong cards right and trump Qantas’s seats with a Cirrus surprise?