Flydubai sees its new staggered-angled business class seat as a key part of its future passenger experience proposition, and plans to fly it on shorter routes across its network, leaving the Thompson Vantage fully flat beds to serve business class passengers on longer Boeing 737 MAX 8 routes.
Eclipse is already on board one MAX 8 aircraft flying short-haul, with plans for more, according to the airline. Flydubai wants to replace the Geven Comoda recliner it used in this category with a new one, so it will need a supplementary type certificate for Eclipse.
The move shows the future picture of the airline, with ten Thompson Vantage fully flat beds up front on longer-haul routes, 12 new Eclipse seats on shorter routes, and a small sub fleet of all-economy aircraft. It is an evolution of the airline's plans to put the Vantage cabins as the standard for the MAX aircraft.
We were the launch customer for Geven's seat when business class was introduced. We are the launch customer for a new business class seat. flydubai has a fleet of 55 aircraft, 22 of which have Geven business class seats. We have nine all-economy aircraft and the rest are configured with our full-flat business class product. We gain two seats in business class and six seats in economy class with HAECO seating.
Flydubai is also adding 4K capability to their inflight entertainment system, along with the ability for passengers to use their own headphones to the IFE system.
Flydubai began offering a complimentary inflight entertainment streaming service in economy class, instead of seatback IFE from Lumexis.
There is a method for this.
There is a method for this.
The Eclipse-based premium product has been developed by the airline over the past three years. The new seat was delayed due to the Pandemic and the changes to the delivery schedule.
RGN reported in February that HAECO and its unnamed customer planned to launch Eclipse in the first quarter of 2020.
The flydubai implementation of Eclipse has a calming blue and warm desert accent tones that make it look modern and relaxing. The overall look and feel is a little bit darker than the Vantage cabin, which is a pleasing change.
The section below the inflight entertainment monitor is the same color as the shroud of the monitor and features on, which is why it is super to see that the airline and its design and seatmaker partners have iterated to reduce the amount of off-white thermoplastic that is visible.
Privacy and a sense of space are added by Eclipse. The image is of flydubai.
The cupholder underneath the seatback monitor is ideal for those shorter flights where a cup of coffee or a glass of something more exciting is often welcome. That change to HAECO's flip-down shelf is a smart one, because it reduces the number of moving and breakable parts.
The product and styling look great. This is a strong product that stands head and shoulders ahead of the recliner competition for shorter routes within the flydubai network.
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The image was credited to flydubai.
