Safran Vue Business Class Single-Aisle seat launches with flydubai

flydubai has partnered with Safran to launch  “The Business Suite” – a new seat concept for its aircraft.

The seat was unveiled at the Arabian Travel Market exhibition. The seat unveiled by flydubai is a highly customised premium business class seat based on Safran’s VUE platform.

flydubai’s interpretation of VUE will be introduced to a select number of the carrier’s fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft. The new premium business class offering will initially be introduced on aircraft operating on the airlines’ longer haul flights.

It also marks the launch of the Vue seat, with flydubai being the launch customer of the platform. It was designed in collaboration with JPA Design.

VUE is designed to offer passengers a similar experience to that of the most comfortable wide-body aircraft while maintaining a space-efficient cabin layout. The name VUE stems from the window-facing experience it delivers, giving each passenger an enjoyable view at all times thanks to the reverse herringbone seat layout.

This new seat will allow each passenger to benefit from a high degree of privacy, direct aisle access and a long lie-flat bed, setting new standards for single-aisle business class travel in the region.

The seat selected by flydubai will be equipped with features such as a door, a wireless charger and customized storage areas. It features a 17.3” RAVE Ultra IFE screen manufactured by Safran.

In Quotes

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai said: 

“flydubai is committed to investing in innovation and enhancing our customer experience. The introduction of the new Business Suite seat later this year, will offer our passengers added comfort, privacy and the benefits of the latest technologies when they travel with us on longer flights across our growing network.”

Victoria Foy, Chief Executive Officer of Safran Seats added

“We are very excited to have flydubai as our launch customer for the VUE seat, it has been an exciting journey working together to bring this product to the market for the first time on a Boeing aircraft. flydubai will operate with an outstanding business class seat designed for the best onboard experience on single-aisle longer haul flights”.

Entry into service

The first aircraft is expected to enter into service by the end of the year according to flydubai and Sarfran. No exact date or

More Single-Alisle products finally making it from design to market

I took a look at this seat last year at Aircraft Interiors Expo from Safran, noting that there were certainly some good ideas from it (as well as more than reasonable comfort).

And that’s important.

What is more important is the rise of the single-aisle aircraft now being used for longer missions (be it the A321LR, the upcoming A321XLR or Boeing 737 MAX aircraft) airlines are demanding more exclusive designs to entice customers – pushing private suites or enclosed spaces, giving the widebody comfort in that single-aisle platform.

Considering that flydubai will be used to go to destinations that can’t justify a larger aircraft (such as an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER), having an option that is tailored to that premium market is key.

In the past, these business class layouts have been very much styled in a 2-2 setting, with only a few airlines (flydubai being among them, as well as JetBlue), who have gone down the layout of 1-1 layouts.

As the new generation of thin and long routes start to appear, with single-alise aircraft, the demand for high-quality interiors, as well as premium experience. The market is only going to grow for such a solution.

Images, flydubai.