Air France unveils new business-class seat that now features a sliding door
Air France just said oui to sliding doors in business class — the latest airline to do so.
The French flag carrier on Tuesday unveiled its latest business-class seat, which will be installed on 12 of the carrier's largest aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER.
The reverse herringbone design — where passengers are angled diagonally toward the window or each other — is more of an evolutionary than revolutionary design for the airline, which currently features a similar seat in a 1-2-1 configuration on its 777-300ER fleet. But the seats feature a more modern finish of "wool, brushed aluminum and full-grain French leather," a 17.3-inch 4K inflight entertainment screen and the ability to pair your own Bluetooth headphones with the system.
Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG's free new biweekly Aviation newsletter.
In addition to the new sliding doors, which add privacy, the two seats in the center section of the cabin now feature a privacy divider separating them that raises and lowers.
Review: Crossing the Atlantic on Air France’s 777-300ER in business class, New York to Paris
When fully reclined, the carrier says the seat will feature a bed nearly 6.5 feet long.
In addition to business class, the carrier is updating the premium economy and economy class seats on these aircraft.
In premium economy, Air France is bringing the seat that it introduced on its Airbus A350 fleet to the 777. Those seats feature about 38 inches of pitch. It's a much-needed upgrade for a seat that has received poor reviews from TPG in the past.
Review: Air France (777-300ER) premium economy from New York to Paris
In economy class, the new seats are 17-inches wide and feature about 31 inches of pitch, which is a standard configuration across multiple carriers for 10-abreast economy class on the 777-300ER.
Passengers in both cabins will enjoy inflight entertainment on a 13.3-inch 4K screen. This system will feature the same Bluetooth pairing capability as business class.
The new seats will hit the skies starting in September. Flights between Paris (CDG) to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) will be the first market for the 777s equipped with these seats. Each of the 12 777s in this configuration will feature 48 business-class seats, 48 premium-economy seats and 273 economy seats.