Etihad unveils new first-, business-class suites coming to single-aisle jets

Etihad Airways is flexing its premium muscle as it unveils an all-new first- and business-class experience.

The Abu Dhabi carrier on Monday announced the hotly anticipated cabins coming to its Airbus A321LR jets, the first of which is expected to be inducted into the fleet in the coming weeks and commence commercial operations Aug. 1.

The A321LR will be Etihad's first single-aisle plane with lie-flat premium seats. A handful of other nose-to-tail upgrades is also expected.

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Here's everything you need to know.

Etihad Airbus A321LR first class

Right at the front of the plane, you'll find Etihad's all-new first-class cabin, which consists of just two seats in a 1-1 arrangement.

These seats are arranged in a reverse herringbone configuration with sliding privacy doors and a buddy seat for a companion to join for a meal or to catch up.

The suites also feature a 20-inch 4K entertainment screen with Bluetooth connectivity and Qi wireless charging pads.

This is the first time that Etihad will offer a true first-class product on a narrow-body plane. "We want to create that signature first-class experience across from when you take off on an A380 in London or in Paris and make sure you get a consistent first product to your end destination," said Arik De, Etihad's chief revenue and commercial officer.

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In addition to the seat itself, Etihad will bring its signature first-class soft product — from the elevated dining to the luxurious amenities — to passengers seated in one of these seats.

While Etihad is marketing and selling these seats as first class, U.S.-based travelers might be familiar with these products as "business class plus."

These seats have additional storage space and a larger ottoman and footwell area due to the curvature of the plane and the bulkhead wall, and different airlines decide to charge for the extra space in different ways.

In the U.S., most airlines simply charge a relatively modest seat upgrade fee on top of a business-class fare to sit in one of these seats.

Meanwhile, Etihad is going to go all-in on first class.

"All the airlines that have this business-plus product don't have first class in their DNA. So for them, it's a little bit of a different journey than for us. Our journey is more like what you've seen with Starlux [which also offers first class in a bulkhead seat]," explained De.

Note that there won't be any cabin partitions between the first- and business-class seats on these planes, and lavatory access will presumably be shared between the two cabins.

Etihad Airbus A321LR business class

Etihad will also offer 14 business-class pods on the Airbus A321LR.

These seats are also arranged in a 1-1 configuration, but they have slightly less space than the first-class seats.

They face toward the window, offering a bit more privacy than similar aisle-facing pods, but they don't have any sliding doors.

While Etihad considered adding doors to these seats, there's an interesting reason why the airline opted not to.

Doors are heavy, and Etihad operates in one of the hottest regions in the world. If Etihad were to install doors in business class, it would have to restrict the range of these jets, which partially defeats the purpose of getting the LR, or long-range, variant of the A321.

It was a "tradeoff," explained De, who reiterated that biz passengers should still enjoy their experience on board even without doors.

In terms of connectivity, business-class passengers can expect a 17.3-inch 4K TV screen, Bluetooth wireless connectivity and Qi wireless charging pads.

Furthermore, the airline is equipping all of its A321LRs with Viasat satellite Wi-Fi, giving flyers streaming-capable service on routes operated by this plane. Note that Etihad offers free Wi-Fi for select premium passengers and free messaging for everyone else.

Etihad Airbus A321LR economy class

The rest of the plane has 144 economy seats, 36 of which have extra legroom.

The seats measure 18.4 inches wide and feature a 13.3-inch 4K seatback monitor, as well as USB charging ports.

Etihad says that it aims to "provide wide-body comfort to the narrow-body aircraft," but we'll need to wait until we try it ourselves to decide if we concur with that assessment.

Etihad Airbus A321LR strategy

Etihad will receive 10 new Airbus A321LR jets by the end of the year, and it has a three-pronged deployment plan.

The first is to introduce first-class and business-class suites to markets that aren't ready for the capacity of a wide-body, explained De. Example markets include Chiang Mai in Thailand and Algiers in Algeria.

The second style of destination is one that's in a roughly four-hour radius of Abu Dhabi, but that warrants a premium-heavy product. "A great example of that is the Seychelles," said De.

Finally, the Airbus A321LR will be deployed in select business markets to help Etihad offer more frequency. One such example is Paris, which isn't ready for a third daily wide-body flight, but could do well with 160 more seats (on the A321LR), according to De.

De said the team will evaluate its deployment strategy on an ongoing basis and make updates as needed.

Furthermore, De mentioned that the airline will also roll out these new cabins across other narrow-body aircraft that serve similar medium-range markets, but he stopped short of providing more details.

What's coming next

While the A321LR cabins usher in a new narrow-body passenger experience for Etihad, bigger changes are on the horizon.

De teased a handful of updates coming in the next few months, all part of the airline's Journey 2030 vision that includes a bigger fleet, more passenger traffic and a significantly expanded network.

"Our 787- 9s, 787-10s and 777s will all go through a refurbishment program. We're going to announce the details in terms of the cabin, probably in six months, but everything's going to be uplifted. It's a billion-dollar project," said De.

The other cabin that'll soon be enhanced is the Residence, Etihad's apartment-in-the-sky product on the Airbus A380, which will see some improvement announced by the end of the year.

"It's time to refresh it a little bit," said De.

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