When I heard news this morning that Qantas revealed their new A330 business class product, I was initially confused.
In August 2013 I wrote about Qantas’ new A330 business class seat design, so I wasn’t sure if I was going crazy, if a press release was published with the wrong date, or what.
Qantas’ original new A330 business class seat design
The plan was that Qantas would start offering their new A330 business class starting in late 2014. As it turns out Qantas is simply releasing the finalized version of their new A330 business class.
Qantas’ finalized new A330 business class seat design
Qantas’ finalized new A330 business class seat design
As you can see, they changed a lot of the “little touches” compared to the original seat design they unveiled last year.
Here’s a video of what the new business class product will look like:
By the end of 2016, the new business class product will be found on all 28 of Qantas’ A330 aircraft, which they fly primarily within Australia and to Asia. Currently Qantas operates A330s on the following routes:
- Sydney-Melbourne
- Sydney-Brisbane
- Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Perth
- Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Singapore
- Melbourne/Brisbane to Hong Kong
- Sydney-Bangkok
- Sydney-Jakarta
- Sydney-Manila
- Sydney-Honolulu
- Sydney-Shanghai
While I don’t think it’s the best business class product available globally, it’s tough to beat a product like this for a domestic flight.
The Vantage XL seats will be in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning each seat will have direct aisle access. There will be a total of seven rows, as there will be 28 business class seats per cabin.
While there’s no denying this is a solid business class product (and a spectacular business class product for domestic flights), they’re kind of being one-upped by Virgin Australia here.
Virgin Australia is installing the sleekest looking reverse herringbone seats I’ve ever seen throughout their Airbus A330 and Boeing 777-300ER fleet.
Virgin Australia’s new business class product
I guess Qantas has the benefit of rolling out their product several months earlier, but once both carriers have their new products, Qantas will once again be at a disadvantage, in my opinion.
What do you think of Qantas’ new business class product, and how do you think it compares to Virgin Australia’s new product?
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