Revealed: Air New Zealand’s New Business Class Seat

We knew for a couple of years that Air New Zealand was working on a new business class product, and today they revealed the cabins. Air New Zealand is refreshing all of its cabins, but I will focus on business class in this post.

Air New Zealand’s new Business Premier seats

Air New Zealand has introduced its new business premier seats. Depending on the configuration of the plane, 42 or 22 of these seats will be available.

Some of the basic features are listed here.

• Seats will be in a 1-2-1 configuration, and will be herringbone, meaning that all seats face toward the aisles, rather than away from them; they’ll be at a 24 degree angle to the aircraft fuselage
• Seats will be 20.5″ wide, and will turn into 80.25″ flat beds
• Seats will have 24″ personal televisions, USB-A, USB-C, and AC power outlets, and bluetooth audio
• Business Premier seats won’t have doors, but they will have a shield that can be extended to provide some extra privacy

Air New Zealand’s new Business Premier Luxe seats

Air New Zealand is also adding a new Business premier Luxe seat. Think of it as a higher level of business. Depending on the configuration of the plane, four or eight of these seats will be on the plane.

There will be more space and a privacy door. It will be possible to eat with someone else at the tray table.

Air New Zealand uses the space at the bulkhead in a creative way. There is no seat in front of the bulkhead row in the other business class seats. Air New Zealand is marketing it as a separate product.

There is no idea of how pricing will work for this. Will there be a special fare class for these seats, or will there be a consistent up charge for Business premier Luxe, regardless of how you book your ticket?

When will Air New Zealand install its new business class?

We will have to be patient as Air New Zealand installs these cabins.

• Air New Zealand Boeing 787s delivered as of 2024 will feature these new cabins
• Air New Zealand will retrofit existing Boeing 787s between 2024 and 2026
• Air New Zealand won’t install these new cabins on Boeing 777s

This isn't a case where a cabin is announced and enters service in a few weeks. It will be two years before we see any planes with these.

Air New Zealand has a fleet of 14 Boeing 787-9s, with another eight on order. I think Air New Zealand will prioritize these cabins for its longest flights.

My take on Air New Zealand’s new business class

Air New Zealand doesn't have a good product. The airline has a standard product in business class that is in a 1-1-1 configuration. This was an exciting product a long time ago.

I am confused by the new product and am wondering what I am missing.

• Reverse herringbone seats are considered more desirable than herringbone seats, given that they feature more privacy and have views out the window, so I have to wonder why Air New Zealand would choose to maintain a herringbone configuration
• It’s odd to see Air New Zealand not introducing doors on a new business class product introduced now, when that’s the direction the industry is headed
• There are several “generic” seats out there that on the surface seem superior to this, like the Adient Ascent seat (which Qatar Airways’ new Boeing 787-9s have)

The size of the footwell and the amount of space around the seat is good for Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand increased premium seat capacity dramatically. In the past Air New Zealand had up to 27 business class seats, but now they have up to 50 business class seats.

It looks like a significant step up over your average business class product and also like a significant improvement over Business premier. What pricing will it be?

The new business class product from Air New Zealand represents a significant improvement over what is currently available. I think the new Business premier looks good, but not cutting-edge. The doors and ottomans are the biggest change.

There will be a lot more business class seats in Air New Zealand than before. We will have to be patient, as the first aircraft with these seats will be in 2024, and it will only be in 2026 when all the other planes have them. Once it gets underway, it will be a fairly quick roll out.

What do you think of Air New Zealand?