New Narrow Body Business Class Seat Features Doors & Direct Aisle Access

STELIA Aerospace, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus, has today unveiled a new business class seat that I expect will become quite popular within a few years.

STELIA Aerospace OPERA business class seat

STELIA Aerospace’s new business class seat is called “OPERA,” and it’s specifically designed for single aisle aircraft. This new product features fully flat seats, direct aisle access, and doors at every seat, and it’s claimed that this will offer wide body comfort on narrow body planes.

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STELIA Aerospace OPERA seat

STELIA Aerospace OPERA seat

Here are a few of the highlights of the seat:

• The widest fully flat bed available on a single aisle jet, with plenty of foot space
• A 20″ personal entertainment monitor
• Increased privacy with a fully integrated door
• Extra stowage capacity, including a closed amenity stowage and a laptop stowage zone
• A large and stable meal table, stowed under the cocktail table
• Adjustable armrests and ambient light
• The seat has a simplified design for weight and cost optimization, as well as easy installation and wiring of screens

Video & pictures of Airbus’ new business class seat

Here’s a video of the new STELIA Aerospace OPERA product:

Here are some additional pictures:

STELIA Aerospace OPERA cabin

STELIA Aerospace OPERA cabin

STELIA Aerospace OPERA seat

STELIA Aerospace OPERA seat

STELIA Aerospace OPERA seat

STELIA Aerospace OPERA seat

The cabin looks gorgeous, but am I the only one a bit amused by these pictures?

• Those don’t look like your average business class passengers 😉
• Spraying yourself with perfume in an aircraft cabin is generally frowned down upon (you might as well be clipping your nails)

Expect this seat to be popular on the Airbus A321XLR

It’s no coincidence that an Airbus-owned seat manufacturer is introducing a product like this. In mid-2019 Airbus unveiled the A321XLR, which will be a game changer for airlines.

This modified A321 will be the longest range narrow body jet yet, as it will be capable of flying up to 5,400 miles nonstop (that’s potentially about a 10-hour flight). This will enable airlines to operate all kinds of long and thin routes, though understandably there has been some concern about what this means for the passenger experience.

At least in business class, this seat should offer about as good of an experience as you could hope for on a single aisle jet.

Airbus’ new A321XLR

My take on this new business class seat

When I first saw this seat I thought to myself “well this just kind of looks like your standard reverse herringbone seat with a door.” In other words, it looks a lot like British Airways’ new Club Suite, with is a modified Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat.

British Airways’ A350 Club Suites

Or to compare it to another narrow body product, it’s like a modified version of American’s A321T first class, except it features a door.

American’s A321T first class

The more I think about it, the more I like this seat, at least based on what we know so far. I feel like:

• The seat looks beautifully designed, with good attention to detail (for example, I love the laptop storage), and it does look like there’s quite a bit of space for your feet, which is a problem in other types of reverse herringbone seats
• The actual entryway and space around the shoulders looks quite tight, but unfortunately that’s to be expected as we see more and more airlines introduce suites with doors in business class

Is this the best single aisle business class product yet?

The only other semi-compelling business class we’ve seen introduced specifically for single aisle planes is the Thompson Aero VantageSolo seat.

While that product could potentially feature doors, arguably it’s a step backwards in the evolution of business class. The seats are herringbone rather than reverse herringbone, as they face the aisle.

Thompson Aero VantageSolo seat

Thompson Aero VantageSolo seat

Based on the pictures and what we know, I’d absolutely pick the OPERA seat over the VantageSolo seat.

Bottom line

STELIA Aerospace has unveiled its new OPERA business class product, designed specifically for single aisle aircraft (presumably with a particular focus on the A321XLR).

I’d say this is probably about as good as it will get for business class on a narrow body plane, as this product offers fully flat beds with direct aisle access and doors. Furthermore, unlike the VantageSolo configuration, these seats are reverse herringbone (facing the windows) rather than herringbone (facing the aisle).

What do you make of this new single aisle business class seat?