Air New Zealand has unveiled a new economy class seat dubbed the “Skycouch” to provide a lie-flat experience once reserved for premium cabins.

The airline plans to introduce the new seats on its first Boeing 777-300ER expected for delivery later this year.

The Skycouch is a specially designed row of three seats engineered to create a lie-flat experience by the extension of a padded foot rest that rotates from a perpendicular position to parallel expanding the seat cushion width to accommodate a sleeping position.

For two adults travelling, the airline hopes to sell both seats and a third vacant seat at roughly half the price. Air New Zealand will detail its pricing plan when the seats go on sale starting in April.

The 777-300ER, intended to start replacing the carrier’s 747-400s, will be configured with 340 seats in three classes, including 246 in economy, 50 in premium economy and 44 in Business Premier. Of the 246 seats in economy class, the nine-abreast configuration will create 22 Skycouches in the first 11 window rows.

Along with the Skycouch, Air New Zealand will introduce a new Premium Economy “Spaceseat”, which the airline says Boeing is considering as a first class offering on the narrow-body 737.

Both the Skycouch and Spaceseat, which were designed by Air New Zealand, “have been licensed to manufacturers Recaro and Contour respectively and have the potential to generate significant license fees for Air New Zealand in the future,” says Ed Sims, Air New Zealand Group general manager international airline.

Air New Zealand will equip each of its 777-300ER aircraft with the Panasonic eX2 in-flight entertainment system and will introduce in-seat ordering of meals and drinks.

The airline will introduce the Skycouch 777-300ER starting with selected Auckland to Los Angeles flights beginning in the fourth quarter, followed by dedicated return service on its Auckland to London via Los Angeles route beginning in April 2011.

Air New Zealand also plans to refit its fleet of eight 777-200ER aircraft starting in mid-2011 with all Asian, North American and UK services to have the new product by 2012.

Air New Zealand Skycouch

You better believe it! Ryanair spokesman, Stephen McNamara, in an interview with the Irish Times, states the airline will proceed with plans to charge passengers for using toilets during short haul services of under 1 hour.

McNamara commented, “one toilet will discourage over-dependence. There is nothing in the rule book to say that an aircraft has to have any toilets at all, which might sound strange, but we believe three toilets are excessive.”

The airline, in its in-flight magazine, stated the introduction of coin-operated toilets would reduce fares by at least 5%, and is part of efforts by Ryanair to reduce the number of toilets on its aircraft, to make room for an additional six seats.

This is truly cutting edge stuff MOL is playing with. Of course it means airport toilets will be the last place every Ryanair passengers will stop at prior to boarding and be the first place they will go after deplaning. Cartoons of how to identify (dare we say profile?) a Ryanair customer will be to see if their eyes are afloat. On the one hand this is so ludicrous and funny while on the other hand it is downright obnoxious.

Boeing’s orderbook for the 787-3 has dwindled to zero following a decision by Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) to convert its remaining 28 orders for the short-range variant to the long-range 787-8.

With the switch ANA now holds 55 firm orders for the first 787 model.

“As a result there are no longer any 787-3 orders in the backlog. Going forward, we’ll continue to assess the market viability of the 787-3,” says Boeing vice president of marketing, Randy Tinseth, on the company’s blog.

“ANA’s primary business reason for adjusting their 787 model selection is focused around aircraft availability to support their fleet plan – the 787-8 is available sooner for delivery than the 787-3 would be,” says Boeing.

Japan Airlines (JAL) is expected to file for bankruptcy today, and announce drastic cuts to its workforce as the ailing carrier seeks to restructure.

However, the airline will likely maintain its operations as it seeks protection from creditors.

Japan’s transport Seiji Maehara announced last Friday that the government will decide on a restructuring plan for JAL today, say media reports in Japan.

The airline is also expected to cut its workforce by a third over the next three years, bringing the total staff strength to 36,000, the reports add.

A JAL spokeswoman declines to comment.

The carrier is expected to file for protection from its creditors, under the Japanese equivalent of Chapter 11 in the USA.

Japan’s Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC) is working on a restructuring plan for JAL, and is likely to offer ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion) in government funds.

Banks are also expected to forgive several hundred billion yen in loans.

In the meantime, JAL has secured approval from its current and former employees to make cuts to pension schemes in a bid to cut costs.

The carrier posted a fiscal second quarter net loss of ¥32.1 billion and reportedly owes creditors $15 billion.

Korean Air will operate an Airbus A380 to London in time for the 2012 London Olympics, its chief executive has confirmed.

The aircraft – which was meant to be in operation in time for the Beijing Olympics – would start flying from Seoul to London in time for the Games, chairman and CEO Yang Ho Cho confirmed.

Speaking today at the launch of a sponsorship of a multi-media guide at the British Museum, Cho said: “The UK market is important for Korean Air as London [Heathrow] is one of the most important hubs for Europe.

“We ordered 10 [A380] planes and we wanted to launch in time for the Beijing Olympics.

“We will operate them in the bigger markets and London is a big market.

“They will be on the London route in time for the 2012 London Olympics.”

Malaysian long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X is considering destinations in North America and new destinations in Europe, possibly using Airbus A340-300s.

AirAsia X says the North American schedule is at least 1-2 years away once they can lease enough Airbus A340s.

Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines is returning some of its leased aircraft and has started to retrench some workers in an effort to cut costs and stem its losses.

The company has also identified 300 employees who will be retrenched shortly but these will be voluntary redundancies, says the spokesman, adding that the retrenched workers will get two months pay for every year of service.

The airline is handing back some of its leased aircraft to “achieve cost savings and rationalisation and operational efficiencies”, says the spokesman, adding that this has taken on greater urgency because of “the ongoing turbulence faced by the aviation industry”.
About 1 month ago Kingfisher started international services to London, Heathrow airport.

Airlines may report combined losses of about US$5.2-billion this year, almost US$3-billion higher than forecast in June, as economies slow and fuel costs erode earnings, the International Air Transport Association said.

The net loss will fall short of the US$6.1-billion worst-case-scenario the industry body envisaged in the last forecast because of the recent drop in oil prices, it said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement. Traffic growth will be lower than predicted as an economic slowdown spreads, it said.

IATA lifted the annual loss estimate for a fifth time in 12 months after passenger growth slumped to a five-year low in June and the number of carriers grounding planes or going bankrupt this year passed two dozen. Airlines had a profit of US$5.6-billion in 2007, the first since the 2001 attacks on the U.S. The industry has lost more than US$36-billion since 2001.

More….

TAM Airlines has taken delivery of the first of eight Boeing 777-300ER long-range widebody twinjets on firm order.

TAM is the first Latin American airline to operate the General Electric GE90-powered 777-300ER, and the delivery also marks the Brazilian carrier’s first acquisition of a new Boeing aircraft.

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