Air France has unveiled its exclusive new long-haul business class seat in partnership with French firm STELIA Aerospace. The seat is a widebody variant of STELIA’s ‘Opera’ design and features a 20-inch ultra-HD screen, among other perks.
Introducing Air France’s new business seats
The French carrier showed off its latest business class seat at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) held in Hamburg this week. The STELIA Aerospace Opera seat was designed exclusively for Air France and incorporates the ‘three F’s’ – Full Flat, Full Access and Full Privacy.
The fully-reclining seats – featuring wool, brushed aluminium and full-grain French leather – extend into a bed measuring almost 2 meters long and two feet in width. They are equipped with a sliding door for full privacy, while middle seats have a retractable central partition ideal for traveling couples or talkative solo passengers.
On the tech side, 20-inch 4K Ultra High-Definition touchpad screens – the largest of any business cabin across Air France’s fleet – will provide the ideal platform for inflight entertainment. The screens will also offer Bluetooth and personal device pairing connectivity, while a touchpad by each seat gives travelers detailed control over seat functions.
Coming to the A350
The new Opera seat will furnish Air France’s incoming Airbus A350s that are progressively joining the carrier’s long-haul fleet. The carrier has an order with Airbus for 41 A350s, of which it has already taken delivery of 20 – its 21 remaining A350s due for delivery will all be fitted with the new business cabins.
The first updated A350 is due to enter service as early as July, with all remaining A350s set to arrive by 2025. The newer planes will seat a total of 292 passengers (down from 324 on its current A350s) which includes a 48-seat business cabin in a 1-2-1 configuration, modeled after its updated Boeing 777 fleet.
