Nigeria’s Air Peace has a swanky new jet with a unique business class configuration.
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Air Peaces takes delivery of Embraer E195-E2
Air Peace has this week taken delivery of its very first Embraer E195-E2. This is Embraer’s latest jet, and an evolution of the previous Embraer 195, as the new jet features significantly lower fuel burn. Air Peace has a total of 13 E195-E2s on order.
Significantly for Air Peace, this also represents the first new plane that the airline has ever taken delivery of, as all of its other aircraft have been acquired secondhand. Air Peace flies some former Emirates 777s, for example, which I’ve been wanting to try. Unfortunately the airline doesn’t have a great safety record, and there are some shady things about the company’s CEO.
But specific to the Embraer E195-E2, I’ve gotta say, the plane looks really swanky in Air Peace’s livery…
Air Peace Embraer E195-E2
It’s not the exterior that I find interesting here, but rather the interior. The jet features 124 seats. The Embraer E195 is typically in a 2-2 configuration in economy, and a 1-2 configuration in business class. However, Air Peace has introduced Embraer’s new business class seating concept, featuring staggered seats in a 2-2 configuration.
Air Peace Embraer E195-E2 business class
Air Peace’s Embraer E195-E2 economy is also in a 2-2 configuration, but the seats aren’t staggered.
Air Peace Embraer E195-E2 economy class
Embraer’s new E195-E2 business class
I realize that I’ve never written about Embraer’s new business class seating concept. Aside from long haul first & business class, we don’t often see true innovation when it comes to seating types.
This is where Embraer has introduced a cool new concept with this jet. A new business class seating option for the E195-E2 offers staggered seats in first class:
- Rather than the standard 1-2 configuration, seats are instead in a 2-2 configuration
- Because seats are staggered you have significantly more legroom (there’s 50″ of pitch), and in theory you have direct aisle access, though I think that claim is a bit of a stretch, since those exiting from the window seat have to step into the space of the passenger in the aisle seat
- Airlines are able to fit roughly the same number of seats into the same space with this configuration compared to the old one
Here are a couple of pictures of the seating concept, not specific to the product Air Peace selected:
New Embraer business class seating concept
New Embraer business class seating concept
Even though Air Peace isn’t the first airline to take delivery of the E195-E2, it is the first airline to select this staggered configuration in business class, as other airlines have chosen a more traditional layout.
It’s awesome to see an innovative product like this, since it’s not often we see an airline mix things up to this extent. That being said, I’m reserving judgment for this seat until I try it myself. I have two main concerns:
- My main concern is that the seats look rather narrow; they’re a little wider than your typical economy seats, but not as wide as the previous business class seats
- I’ve always loved the 1-2 configuration on Embraers when I can select a single seat, since you get both a direct aisle and window seat, and this configuration eliminates that
A typical Embraer premium cabin configuration
Bottom line
Nigeria’s Air Peace has taken delivery of its first Embraer E195-E2. Not only is this the first new aircraft that Air Peace has ever taken delivery of, but Air Peace is also the first airline to install Embraer’s new business class seating concept.
This new seating concept is incredibly innovative, and I hope to try out this product some day.
What do you make of Air Peace’s E195-E2, and of this new business class seating concept?
Rather than pay up to three times more for a Business Class fare on a short flight on an Embraer 175/190 just purchase a Middle Exit Seat for Much Much Less
Great review and pictures - the plane looks amazing and can't wait to try it. You said you were hesitant to try their product - I lived in Nigeria for a short-time in 2018 and flew AirPeace domestically a couple of times. While the planes were old and dated, and not very comfortable, they generally arrived on time and I never had a safety issue with them. Out of the Nigeria-based airlines, they were generally...
Great review and pictures - the plane looks amazing and can't wait to try it. You said you were hesitant to try their product - I lived in Nigeria for a short-time in 2018 and flew AirPeace domestically a couple of times. While the planes were old and dated, and not very comfortable, they generally arrived on time and I never had a safety issue with them. Out of the Nigeria-based airlines, they were generally the ones with the best customer service and the best on-time departures.
You can check out my full review here: https://0504traveller.blogspot.com/2018/01/trip-report-air-peace-calabar-to-lagos.html
Although I appreciate the thinking out of the box, there is no way this bests the conventional 2+1 configuration. Besides, we aren't all solo travelers all the time.
While a wide seat is preferred, I can somewhat manage with a narrower seat if my shoulders have room.
So not a great safety record and a shady CEO, I wouldn’t care what the product is no Thankyou - safety first
Jumping over aisle seat shouldn't be an issue as a typical E-195 flight won't be 4+ hours. At most you'll get up one time and you're not gonna be hangin' out in the aisles, stretching or going to the on-board lounge like on a 12+ hour wide-body flight. Unless you're oversized width-wise, you'd probably appreciate the extra pitch more.
I tested out this seat during the E2 Profit Hunter demonstrator tour when they were first marketing it and I wasn't overly impressed. The seat narrows significantly at the hip and makes it quite uncomfortable and awkward for anyone wide and tall to stand up and exit from some of the window seats. There are also some design issues with the tray tables, etc.. which needed to be sorted out. Let's see the passenger reaction to these once AirPeace puts them into service.
You don't touch on the big gain here: Pitch - Embraer can have over 50 inches of pitch on this business class without sacrificing capacity because the seating is 2-2.
The other thing is that the seat is quite a bit wider than coach, plus dedicated armrests, because it is staggered like many int'l business class seats where the foot area is a bit narrower than the seat area. The Delta a330-900neo is a prime...
You don't touch on the big gain here: Pitch - Embraer can have over 50 inches of pitch on this business class without sacrificing capacity because the seating is 2-2.
The other thing is that the seat is quite a bit wider than coach, plus dedicated armrests, because it is staggered like many int'l business class seats where the foot area is a bit narrower than the seat area. The Delta a330-900neo is a prime example - technically Delta One is 1-2-1 but accounting for the stagger, the seats are 2-4-2, the same as coach, but are a decent amount wider because the seats aren't directly adjacent to others.