Hi Fly, an aircraft leasing company has a varied fleet, ranging from Airbus A330s and A340’s through to their famous A380s – ex Singapore Airlines aircraft – made famous by helping out Norwegian during their 787 engine issues from Rolls Royce.
However their new cabin showcases what the airline would look like if they had taken an aircraft fresh off the shelf, rather than taking second-hand frames. The result is a smart, elegant cabin in neutral colours, something an aircraft lessor needs to take in to consideration to ensure that the cabin blends with other airline’s product offerings.
In business class, three rows of 2 x 2 x 2 fully flat bed seats in cool cream, taupe and blue make for a smart, industry-standardised cabin. The seats are similar to those found on the older long-haul Turkish Airlines fleet and LATAM, and are one of our favourites for sleep, as there is no restriction on the legs, however 25% of the seats don’t have aisle access, meaning that middle pair are the best for those travelling as solo travellers.
Passengers will also enjoy higher comfort levels in the ‘Airspace’ signature brand new cabin designed and released recently by Airbus, while the airline itself will benefit financially from a significant lower consumption and carbon emissions.
The aircraft seats 371 passengers in a two class configuration (18 high comfort business class seats with flat beds and 353 standard economy seats).
This means that economy seats are in a tighter 3 x 3 x 3 configuration making the economy class cabin slightly less appealing, but each seat features the latest generation Zodiac Rave IFE system making the flights slightly less painful.
It is interesting to see the carrier opt for this configuration, which in business, would appeal to top tier airlines with flat bed business classes, however, the tighter, narrower seats of the economy class cabin would appeal more to low cost and leisure carriers. There aren’t many carriers that push an industry standard business class and a high-density economy cabin.
It will be interesting to see which carriers opt for this configuration as a lease aircraft. But either way, Hi Fly have brought a successful new aircraft in to their fleet, which in our opinion is a much smarter option that the A380s they still operate sporadically.
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