Joining the fleet only last month, LAN brought out their latest weapon in attacking the international market, their much improved Dreamliner, the 787-9. Operating from their base in Santiago Chile, LAN’s 787-9 will start flying to Lima, Peru (with continuing service to Los Angeles), New York, Easter Island, Madrid, Frankfurt, Auckland and Sydney.
The 787-9 is perfect for LAN’s premium International routes, capable of transporting 27% more passengers and 23% more cargo. LAN will configure the cabin with 283 Economy Class seats and 30 Premium Business Class seats. Although we would have liked to have seen more business class seats (considering in our recent trip report the cabin was totally full both ways).
So successful is the 787-9, Ignacio Cueto, CEO of LAN pointed out a modification to LAN’s original request in 2007, for 32 total 787s, including 22 787-8s and 10 787-9s. “We reached an agreement with Boeing to substitute four of the 787-8s with the newest model and we are very happy to announce that we will receive a total of 14 Boeing 787-9s in the first two years, which is great news for our passengers”, he concluded.
But what we are really excited about is the new unified LATAM airlines group cabin interiors, that we are starting to see rolled out across the fleets in both LAN and TAM that were conceived by UK based firm Priestmangoode. The 787-9 is the first wide-body to feature this new unified cabin design. The new look and feel was inspired by the colors and textures of the region, achieving a balance between the intrinsic passion of South American culture and the elegance of natural tones with a unique, personable cabin that provides a memorable world-class experience to all LAN and TAM passengers.
The biggest change can be seen in the Premium Business Class cabin, which provides full flat seats that recline 180 degrees with a similar design as those currently offered, including an integrated footrest, memory system to save the user’s seat configuration, and a lumbar massage system to further increase passenger relaxation. However, there have been a few changes to the Aura seat, originally designed by Acumen Design Associates, including better magazine storage, larger foot space – seemingly including the extra golden inch we were looking for in bed length, however the removal of the seat divider means a little less privacy from your seat companion.
In Economy Class, Priestmangoode have extended their design flourishes, with a bright and vibrant sea of blue and red ergonomic reclining seats which provide their passengers with a headrest with four configurations, providing greater comfort to passengers and an in-flight entertainment system which uses a touchscreen equipped with cutting-edge technology. Passengers can access movie reviews based on the popular website IMDB and in the coming months will be able to access the Duty Free catalogue, add items to their shopping cart, and send their order to crew members. All of these options will be available on their personal touch screen from the comfort of their seat.
We are really excited by this 787-9, and really can’t wait to note the differences between their already successful 787-8 and this new, more impressive 787-9. Whilst there are no dates associated to the new routes, expect by the end of 2015, 787-9’s flying LAN’s most successful long haul routes. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest route launches on social media, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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