We’ve known for some time that Korean Air plans to introduce a new business class product. The wait is finally over, as the airline has just revealed its new product, and it’s sure to impress.
In this post:
Korean Air’s new Prestige Suites 2.0 business class
Korean Air will shortly be debuting its new business class:
- The new business class will debut on the Boeing 787-10, as the airline has 20 of these aircraft on order
- Existing Boeing 777-300ERs should also be retrofitted with these cabins eventually, and the airline has 25 of these in its fleet
- While Korean Air also plans to soon introduce premium economy, this is no longer debuting on the Boeing 787-10, but rather will likely debut on the Boeing 777-300ER
You’ve gotta respect the way that Korean Air is introducing this product. Rather than teasing it for years, the airline isn’t even putting out a press release about it, but has simply updated the page dedicated to the Boeing 787-10.
Korean Air’s new business class is being named Prestige Suites 2.0, and it’s a staggered business class product in a 1-2-1 configuration. Each seat has 46″ of pitch (since the footwell for the seat is to the side of the seat in front), 21″ of width, and turns into a 78.2-79.2″ flat bed. Seats also feature privacy doors, which are 52″ high.
Seats feature excellent tech, including a 23.8″ ultra high definition entertainment monitor, 60W USB-C charging, AC power outlets, wireless charging, and more. Korean Air is also offering Wi-Fi on its Boeing 787-10s, making it the first wide body aircraft in the fleet to have Wi-Fi.
The Boeing 787-10 has a total of 36 business class seats, taking up the entire space between the first and second set of doors. This plane is debuting in late July 2024, with its first route being between Seoul Incheon (ICN) and Tokyo Narita (NRT).
Korean Air doesn’t state who manufactured this new business class seat:
- This looks like it might be a customized version of the Safran Unity seat, the same product we’ll see on Air India and Qantas
- It could also be a customized version of the Collins Aerospace Horizon product, which initially debuted on Aeroflot A350-900s, but due to the trade restrictions in place against Russia, these A350-900s now fly for Turkish Airlines and Air India
Anyone have more insights into which product this is? I’d lean toward it being a Collins Aerospace product, since it’s the seating manufacturer with which Korean Air has historically worked.
My take on Korean Air’s new business class product
It’s exciting to see airlines introduce new business class products, since seating choices have come a long way over the years. That being said, Korean Air currently has Apex Suites as its standard long haul business class product, which is one of my favorite business class seats in the world. The window seats in this configuration are simply awesome, and offer an unparalleled amount of privacy and space.
The catch with Apex Suites is that they’re not at all efficient in terms of their footprint, so while they’re great for passengers, they’re not great for airlines.
With that in mind, Korean Air’s new business class product looks great, and I think passengers will mostly view it as an upgrade:
- The seats have excellent tech, from charging options, to a high-definition monitor, to Wi-Fi; hopefully Korean Air also updates its entertainment selection in the process
- The seats offer lots of privacy and should be quite comfortable
- Many people will appreciate the staggered configuration, since you can choose to sit alone by a window, or can choose one of the pairs of “honeymoon seats” in alternating rows in the center section
One other thing that really stands out to me about the new product is the cabin finishes. Korean Air has historically leaned heavily into using a powder blue color, which is… a choice. I can’t help but feel like Korean Air’s cabin finishes have just felt very dated, between the powder blue and the weird faux wood.
Korean Air is now going for much darker and more neutral cabin finishes. While no doubt a bit less distinctive, I think the aesthetics are much better. With the Korean Air and Asiana merger soon expected to be finalized, presumably this is Korean Air’s new planned cabin design going forward.
Honestly, if we saw the end of Korean Air’s powder blue and Asiana’s brown, it wouldn’t be much of a loss, if you ask me. I’ll take it a step further — it should be a contributing factor in support of the merger. 😉
Bottom line
Korean Air has unveiled its new business class product, dubbed Prestige Suites 2.0. These new seats are debuting on the Boeing 787-10, which is entering service shortly, and it should also eventually be retrofitted on Boeing 777-300ERs.
This looks like an excellent new product, with lots of privacy and great tech. Then again, Korean Air’s existing Apex Suites are quite comfortable as well, but not nearly as efficient for the airline in terms of space utilization.
What do you make of Korean Air’s new business class?
@lucky - Priestman Goode has confirmed on its latest IG post that it is a Collins Horizon seat. But I definitely thought it was Unity - they are just remarkably similar which speaks to how we have reached a plateau of business class innovations. Even QR couldn’t figure out what more to add
Does anyone have any idea when the old 777s will be retrofit? I am flying LAS-ICN right after Christmas and that would make for a nice present.
The business class seats are Collins Aerospace Horizon Premiers, and the economy seats are Safran Z400s (which are the same on board the A321neo).
I prefer the 1-2-1 configuration for business class
36 seats between doors 1 and 2 on a 787-10?! Very low density layout…UA has 44 seats in the same space.
Always good to read about the upgrades, thank you. Have never tried Korean before, maybe it`s time now.
Suite: great
Door: yes
Pillow: the size of my hand
Anyone any idea what time/days this is flying? I'm desp trying to hunt it down as I'll be taking that route in Sep/Oct! x
Let's definitely hope they update the IFE and get wifi working...
This is super news. Look forward to trying this out.
Flew on the old 777 without aisle access at every seat recently- will be a massive upgrade to that one. My only issue with the apex suites is lack of air nozzles and generally very warm cabin so the window seats get way too warm due to lack of air flow for my preference
Could’ve called it “Prestige Worldwide”
Korean is of touch with their ridiculous J class pricing. They charge way more than the top ME Airlines.
am Korean living in the US. Whenever I travel Korea - which isn't that often - I try to avoid KE due to their ridiculous prices. SUre they have somewhat friendlier service than US airlines and definitely better food,but it's truly not worth the often 50% price premium
I'm not sure why just updating a web page makes the revelation of the new seat commendable but KE does have a high quality product.
The bigger piece of the puzzle is that they seem to be continuing to simplify and evolve their fleet as they wait for the Asiana merger to be approved which would allow expansion of their US network as well as DL's expansion to ICN with both carriers putting growth on...
I'm not sure why just updating a web page makes the revelation of the new seat commendable but KE does have a high quality product.
The bigger piece of the puzzle is that they seem to be continuing to simplify and evolve their fleet as they wait for the Asiana merger to be approved which would allow expansion of their US network as well as DL's expansion to ICN with both carriers putting growth on hold pending the merger.
The 787-10 is a highly efficient aircraft which will certainly be used for modest intra-Asian growth but the A359s and -1000s on order do allow for expansion of the longhaul network as well as replacing older aircraft.
KE is a solid performer and growth at ICN will continue to put pressure on the Japanese carriers at Tokyo and their partners that have very little growth potential because of the split Tokyo airport system.
Flew ICN-BOS in May with the Apex Suites again.
A great ride. I love how they face forward, not angled reverse herringbone. I always get slightly motion sick sitting at an angle to the direction of movement.
Love Korean. These look like a nice upgrade to an already fabulous hard product.
Unrelated but: does anybody know why there’s been a string of Lufthansa diversions and cancellations to the east coast lately?
@ E39 -- What did I miss?
From Frankfurt:
June 28th: LH400 canceled
June 29th: LH404 canceled
July 2nd: LH404 canceled
July 8th: LH404 canceled
June 22nd: LH402 diverted to PHL
June 30th: LH402 diverted to YYZ
July 17th: LH402 diverted to BOS
July 18th: LH402 canceled
June 30th: LH420 canceled
July 3rd: LH420 canceled
July 16th: LH420 canceled
July 15th: LH422 diverted to PHL
July 11th: LH416 canceled
July 4th: LH416 canceled
and the list goes on and on for both FRA and MUC
I’ve noticed the A380 on MUC-BOS-MUC are very often delayed! Took the flight in April and noticed that my flight was delayed, as well as most of the flights for a week before me!
The seats could also be the RENDEZ-VOUS seats by Stelia Aerospace. They look kind of similar.
Nevertheless, it looks like a great product and a massive improvement. I hope that they will replace the B772 with the very outdated Prestige Class soon.
While I'm glad they have an industry standard product especially on long-haul flights and they've departed from the celadon green colour palette, here are some of my takes:
- Is a separate shelf necessary for wireless charging? A niche or recess on the main shelf would've been a better option in my opinion.
- I would've preferred a video handset over a standard handset so you're able to check the progress of your...
While I'm glad they have an industry standard product especially on long-haul flights and they've departed from the celadon green colour palette, here are some of my takes:
- Is a separate shelf necessary for wireless charging? A niche or recess on the main shelf would've been a better option in my opinion.
- I would've preferred a video handset over a standard handset so you're able to check the progress of your flight while watching something on the big screen.
- The screens they chose seem to be glossy so it might not be ideal if you're on a daytime flight.
- I don't know what to make of the colour palette in Economy to be honest; it's certainly different! (for a lack of a better way to explain it)
Other than that, it's an ideal a/c from East Asia to the West Coast and even Midwest. And I'm happy to see more airlines using more neutral tones in their cabins.
Re: point 2, KE has never balled out on their cabins compared to their counterparts. Not at all surprised they didn't go with video handsets.
They've used video handsets before
https://www.koreanair.com/contents/plan-your-travel/in-flight-experience/fleet/b777/300er-277/prestige
https://www.koreanair.com/contents/plan-your-travel/in-flight-experience/fleet/b787/9-278/prestige
Starlux has the same handset on the A321neo and on the top there's a small screen that does show the remaining ETA to destination.
It is more likely to be a Collins Aerospace Horizon Product as Korean Air already has a close working relation with Collins supplying pretty much all of their premium seats