No spin class, but…

Project Sunrise, “the last frontier in global aviation”, challenges airframers Boeing and Airbus to refine their widebody jets to reach London and New York nonstop from Australia’s east coast. But early flyers on the Perth-London nonstop Boeing 787-9 — and other similarly long flights — understand all too clearly the need to get up out of their seventeen-inch-wide seats.

At the same time, these ultra-ultra-longhaul aircraft will need to be even more scrupulous about weight than the Qantas 787-9. The airline was so concerned about cutting kilos from the aircraft that the USB sockets next to the screen in premium economy only put out a low power 0.5A rather than the 2A modern phones need. Adding power supplies isn’t all that heavy, probably not much more than a few kilos for the cabin, which rather epitomises the choices Qantas has made.

Enter — or re-enter — the Third Place. (See Cabin Pressure, June 2016, for more on the definition of this non-home, non-work zone, and what airlines are doing with their bars, lounges, self-service snack zones, and so on.)

Convertibility is likely to be the watchword, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all if the galleys and areas around the doors of the aircraft were a key focus. The aircraft being considered for the Project Sunrise role will likely have four sets of doors, which could mean four sets of flexible spaces.

Many airlines already use their doors 2 area (where most widebodies board most passengers) as a welcome zone and self-service area for business class passengers, and that’s also where the bars on Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic aircraft, the only single-level jets that offer them, are found.

The upper deck of Qantas’ early Boeing 747-200B aircraft was dedicated to the Captain Cook Lounge, and a bar-lounge is certainly one option for Project Sunrise. But rather than the upper deck, it’s best to direct our thoughts downwards.

The cargo deck of widebody aircraft has been used for passengers before, although only in flight rather than during takeoff and landing. Lufthansa’s Airbus A340-600 aircraft, for example, have a set of downstairs lavatories for economy class. American Airlines’ predecessor airlines Pacific Southwest Airlines (the pink-and-orange birds with the smile painted below the radome) took its Lockheed L-1011 jets with a cargo deck lounge that even offered integrated airstairs to the apron below. And of course numerous airlines use the space for crew rest bunks.

‘The cargo deck of widebody aircraft has been used for passengers before.’

It’s that rest purpose that seems most likely for Project Sunrise. As Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said around the launch of the Dreamliner, “could some of the freight areas that we may not be able to use be used as an exercise area? Could they be used for berths for people to sleep in? What are the out there ideas that could apply to this and really change air travel for the future. And nothing, nothing is off the table.”

Outside the recent generation of first class suites, actual beds haven’t been used in quite some time, with a few exceptions like Philippine Airlines’ early 747 upper decks, which offered berths.

A business-plus version is certainly an option, with passengers paying a premium to sit in business class for takeoff, landing and meals, and able to retire, flying boat style, to the lower level berths in their Qantas dressing-gowns with a hot chocolate or a nightcap.

Offering berths on a by-the-hour or partial flight basis to premium economy and economy passengers might also be on the cards, but could cannibalise the critical business class revenue that makes a route like Project Sunrise work.

Is there another option? “We are also looking at do we need and should we have four classes? Is there a new class that’s needed on the aircraft?” Alan Joyce said.

Joyce is talking about the “comfort canyons”, as Airbus’ passenger experience executives call them, between the existing options on board. The canyon between premium economy and business class is currently the greatest on Qantas’ fleet, moving from a fully flat bed with direct aisle access to a 2-3-2 (or 2-4-2) recliner at 38” pitch. What might span that gap?

Qantas has some time to figure this out. But not that much time: designing, testing, certifying and producing commercial aircraft components is a complex and long process. If the airline isn’t already at more than a “hey, perhaps a spin class?” sort of point — in other words, if Joyce’s suggestions of exercise areas and berths weren’t testing the market waters rather than starting to think about third places — it needs to get its skates on.