The business-class expertise on Etihad Airways is about to get even higher.
The Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based provider unveiled Monday its extremely anticipated new cabins that’ll be put in on its new batch of Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane.
Particularly, Etihad will outfit the planes in a two-cabin configuration, with 32 all-new, business-class pods and 271 economic system seats.
Within the ahead cabin, flyers will seemingly be impressed by the Collins Aerospace Components suite product that Etihad put in. These pods construct on the extremely well-liked Tremendous Diamond product that Eithad already flies on its Airbus A350-1000 jets, however it provides a bunch of bells and whistles that make this the nicest business-class seat in Etihad’s fleet.
These enhancements embody a taller privateness door, extra storage areas, a 17.3-inch 4K leisure display with Bluetooth connectivity and a bigger, extra spacious mattress.
In economic system class, vacationers can anticipate an industry-standard 3-3-3 configuration, in addition to 13.3-inch 4K leisure screens with Bluetooth connectivity and a USB charging port.
One other thrilling enchancment is the set up of Viasat’s Ka-band Wi-Fi, which is understood to be among the many speediest and extra dependable inflight web techniques within the sky.
Although it has been an open secret for practically a yr, it is nice to see Etihad formally unveil this new business-class product. The information comes just some days after Starlux Airways, the Taiwanese luxurious airline startup, started flying this product to the U.S.
Starlux was the launch buyer for the Components suite, and it is already receiving rave opinions from flyers (myself included). I’ve flown practically each type of business-class seat in the marketplace, and I would say this one is of the world’s finest — nice information for Etihad’s premium passengers.
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Nevertheless, Etihad’s model of the Components suite is not as spacious or as tech-forward as Starlux’s. Etihad opted to not set up an enclosed storage closet (only a drawer); it additionally did not embody the touchscreen seat-control panel. Moreover, Etihad’s 17.3-inch TV screens are a lot smaller than the 24-inch ones that you will discover on Starlux.
Sadly, Etihad’s new cabins will solely be put in on future Dreamliners, three of that are anticipated to be delivered within the third quarter of 2023. In whole, the airline has orders for 32 extra Dreamliners. The provider did not announce a retrofit program for its present fleet of 39 Dreamliners, which is able to proceed to fly with their legacy, above-average product.
That mentioned, Etihad not too long ago debuted a revamped onboard expertise for these sitting within the pointy finish of the airplane.
This contains tableware and bedding from the famend Armani/Casa vogue home, together with extra inexpensive Wi-Fi pricing. These upgrades at the moment are obtainable throughout Etihad’s present fleet and can be rolled out to the brand new Dreamliners as they’re delivered.
