Hawaiian Airlines Unveils New 787 Business Class With Double-Bed Suites
Hawaiian Airlines announced on Tuesday its new business-class product, to be installed on its 10 forthcoming Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners arriving in the fleet from 2021.
Only two pictures of the seat have so far been revealed, but show a 1-2-1 configuration with middle seats that turn into a double bed, in a similar way to Qatar Airways award winning QSuites. Hawaii is a popular destination especially for honeymoons, and this would be a great option for couples traveling together.
Adient Aerospace, the seat's manufacturer, told TPG at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg that the seats feature a sliding door, turning them into a suite. The double bed will have a small divider between the two seats so it won't be a true double bed, as the mattress pads will not touch each other, and the seats will be slightly angled out, rather than facing directly straight ahead.
The Ascent Seating System seat is the first by Adient Aerospace, a joint venture between Boeing and Adient, which traditionally manufactures automotive seating. The seat has been specifically designed for the Boeing 787, with Hawaiian Airlines as the launch customer.
The images show the base model, which Hawaiian will customize. Adient says the color and fabric Hawaiian ultimately chooses are likely to be quite different, to suit a more tropical image.
While Adient has a large exhibit at the Hamburg event to showcase the seat, the company has taken the unusual step of having the contents of the stand completely obscured from view, and only inviting potential customers to view and test the seat, rather than any media.
The official images look like a huge step up from the existing Hawaiian Airlines A330 business/domestic first class product.
"We couldn't be more pleased for Adient Aerospace and Collins Aerospace to join us in creating a distinctively Hawaiian cabin experience in our future flagship aircraft," Avi Mannis, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Hawaiian Airlines, said.
Hawaiian's 787 main cabin will feature the Aspire seat from Collins Aerospace.
