Several weeks ago, Air France announced plans to update the cabins of the aircraft belonging to its regional subsidiary. The airline has now revealed the seats that will be installed, so let’s take a look at the details.
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Air France HOP Embraer E190 cabin makeover plans
Air France HOP is Air France’s regional subsidiary, operating a fleet of over 30 Embraer aircraft, including E170s and E190s. Starting in the fall of 2024, Air France HOP Embraer E190s will be getting new cabins. It makes sense that Air France is waiting until after the peak summer travel season to start this work, given that the Olympics will be in Paris this summer.
Air France is partnering with French seating manufacturer Expliseat on this new product. The seat is 30% lighter than the current product, thanks to the use of a carbon fiber and titanium seat combining a lightweight and sustainable design with “enhanced comfort, durability and functionality.”
When these jets are reconfigured, they’ll go from having 100 seats to having 110 seats, so that’s quite the capacity increase. Since one flight attendant is required for every 50 seats, this also means that Air France HOP E190s will go from having two flight attendants to having three flight attendants.
Each seat will feature up to three inches of recline, storage spaces, a smartphone holder, a cup holder, flip-up armrests, a jacket rack, adjustable headrests, and USB-A and USB-C outlets. Note that there are no plans to install Wi-Fi, though.
While this is a different seat than you’ll find on Air France’s mainline jets, the airline explains that the new seats will be “consistent with the high standards of comfort offered on board the Airbus A220.” When these new seats are installed, the entire cabin decor will be given a makeover in the Air France colors, ranging from the bulkheads to the carpet.
I recently reviewed the Air France HOP Embraer E190 business class experience, on the short flight between Paris and Frankfurt, just to give you a sense of what customers are currently getting. Air France’s Embraer E190s currently have fairly “retro” cabins, in a good way. That’s to say that the seat padding is quite good, as the planes don’t have slimline seats, like you’ll find on most newer aircraft.
Air France HOP hugely improving business class
People will probably have mixed opinions as to whether the new cabins are positive or negative. The new seats probably won’t be as well padded as the old ones, but the tech and cabin finishes are improving considerably.
However, there is one major thing improving, which business class passengers will appreciate. My biggest complaint with the current experience on these jets is that business class doesn’t offer blocked adjacent seats, as you’ll find in the mainline fleet.
This makes a huge difference in terms of comfort, and it would be nice to have a similar experience regardless of whether you end up on a mainline or regional jet. After all, the fares are the same, so the experience should be similar as well.
Fortunately that will be changing. As of January 2025, Air France HOP will begin offering blocked adjacent seats in business class, meaning that business class passengers will no longer have a seat mate. This is a phenomenal development, which I’m very happy to see.
As I’ve said many times, I’m delighted to see how Air France continues to improve its passenger experience, especially on long haul flights. The carrier’s new Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER business class products are great, while the Airbus A220-300s on short haul flights also represent a very nice improvement.
Bottom line
Air France HOP Embraer E190s are getting new cabins in late 2024, including new seats and new cabin finishes. With these new cabins, we’ll see the introduction of power ports, personal device holders, and more. While the capacity of the jet will increase from 100 seats to 110 seats, we’ll start to see blocked adjacent seats in business class, which is an overdue development.
What do you make of planned changes to Air France HOP Embraer E190s?
Some more detail on the seats: https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2024/06/expliseat-launches-tiseat-2x-air-france-hop/
So for those of us who always travel in Y and pay cash for our tickets, this means less space and less padding in the seat. Improvement indeed.
On one hand I agree with you about not having another person there. On the other hand, it is not a long haul flight so it does not matter much for a couple of hours. Most people don't pay for it anyway as in your case of using points for a longer journey. Usually the price difference is considerable for such a short journey.
Cash price - yes. But AF usually offers very cheap upgrades at check-in and they often sell them out. People do pay for business within Europe, contrary to the popular belief.
Those seats don't look comfortable at all. Nice to see AF adding USB ports though.
Let’s say more seats less comfort. Probably AF will say: we heard our customers and they asked for more cramped aircraft :)
Could that actually be a strategical move then?
Because yes if the seats increase from 100 - 110 then 3 not 2 FAs are required.
But then if business passengers receive 2 seats each (1 free) then theoretically couldn't Air France set a minimum number of business class seats being 10 (which wouldn't be hard to fill) and then never actually have to have 3 FAs?
Counterpoint - if that's the plan, then why bother adding more seats in the first place? It's a ton of work just to make business class incrementally better, and I can't imagine people are out there paying real money for EU biz anyway
I pay for intra-Europe business-class on Air France, but not KLM.
It is based on physical seats rather than seats occupied so 3 FA's would always be required.
They can (and probably will) permanently block seats - typically done by putting a seat-block device, which makes a seat a table. I expect that in the first 5 rows. The aircraft will then still be certified at 100 seats.
When there are more than 10 business class passengers, they'll just move the curtain back and leave seats from row 6 and up empty.
This is such a missed opportunity for Air France. Why not have 2-3 rows of 1x1 seating in business-class? Air France has done such a superb job at positioning itself as a premium European airline. And yet, international business-class or first-class passengers connecting in CDG to an onward destination may get stuck with economy seats. At least the mainline Air France aircraft have a blocked middle seat in intra-Europe business-class.
Or - offer 2 by 1 business class like F on the E175 in the U.S., using larger more traditional F seats. Currently sitting in biz on one of KLM's new 190's - there are 4 rows of biz on this plane, but of course using 2 X 2 traditional seats. No adjacent seats blocked and the flight is full.
Because it removes flexibility for the airline in terms of how many rows of business they need. It would only make sense if people were willing to pay extra for a larger seat, which they aren't since these planes fly on routes up to 2 or 3 hours. It makes far more sense to invest into lounge and catering, which actually affect people's decision on which airline / class to fly.
I would disagree. While I have lounge access, I try to minimize time in the airport, but a deciding factor for me and something I’m willing to pay for is a larger seat & more legroom. In America I pay for first class because I get more room. I can actually have my laptop out and get work done much more easily. It’s really hard to work in those cramped seats. I see this as...
I would disagree. While I have lounge access, I try to minimize time in the airport, but a deciding factor for me and something I’m willing to pay for is a larger seat & more legroom. In America I pay for first class because I get more room. I can actually have my laptop out and get work done much more easily. It’s really hard to work in those cramped seats. I see this as an interesting value prop for someone like AF, who wants to position themselves as the luxury brand and provide something different because they do still offer and are investing in their premium long haul cabins. So, by offering a seat that is larger with more designed space (not a blocked middle seat) that could set them apart. Yes, they would be more constrained on their flexibility. But I would think it would allow them to sell at a premium.
Also on these flight instead of losing 2 seats per row they could just lose 1 and do a 2-1. Makes even more sense for the regional jets.
I'm pretty sure dozens of various European airlines considered going for a regular business class. None of them seems to believe there's a market for that. I'm sure they know what they're doing. People don't care about having a huge chair on a regional flight enough to pay for it.
It’s at max a 3-hour flight. No one needs that space for that short time.