Japan Airlines is preparing to refit some its planes to improve passenger comfort.
Firstly, the fleet of thirteen 777-300ER’s will have new seats installed in all four cabins (First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy).
The new configuration will be set out as:
- 8 first class seats – Changes to be confirmed but will “retain the qualities of the current JAL Suite product while boosting the size of IFE screens from 19 to 23 inches.”
- 49 business class seats – Changes have been confirmed that the seats will go full flat, with direct isle access and 23″ IFE screens
- 40 premium economy – Will be fixed shell seats with an extra 4″ of width, and a larger IFE screen (12.1″)
- 135 economy class seats – Will have slimline seats installed giving an extra two-three inches and just less than an inch of added width
Roll-out on the 777-300ER’s will feature initially on the Tokyo Narita to London Heathrow run daily from January 2013, and will be rolled out progressively to Narita to New York, then other destinations. No time-scale for completed installation has been given yet.
JAL will also be refitting some of it’s 767-300ER’s with a new lie-flat business class seat too, and retrofitting new economy class seats into these planes from October 2013.
Takahisa Hatakeyama – JAL vice president of product and service strategy development says
“Extensive research and planning have gone into the selection of these new products, and with the roll-out including other upcoming services, we hope to deliver on our promise to offer our customers excellence in safety and quality.”
No firm pictures have emerged of the new products – JAL say they will be revealing more details in September, along with “other upgrades to in-flight services and catering”
This should be one to keep an eye on – least of all 232 seats on a big plane like the 777-300ER is not a lot of seats….