the latest innovation is the mini-suite, complete with sliding doors. Qatar Airways and Delta are currently fitting their mini-suite versions. Qatar has debuted its Qsuite concept on some flights on the Doha-London route. Like Delta, the carrier has brought more of the first class experience to the business cabin, which is a definite trend as first class disappears from many airlines. The Qsuite appears on some Boeing 777s, with New York and Paris flights also offering it on these aircraft. Existing aircraft will be retrofitted at a rate of one a month.
Jetblue’s Mint suite
Another new Norwegian route – Denver – may have spurred United Airlines to restore flights to its hub there. From next March, United will reinstate services from Heathrow, albeit just for the summer. Norwegian has two other new routes – Seattle, starting in September, and Chicago, a major United hub, which begins in March 2018. BA and others serve both cities from Heathrow, but competition from Norwegian will have an impact on fares and provide an alternative for the 20 per cent of Gatwick’s passengers who are business travellers. There are signs however, that Norwegian may be going too far, too fast. It posted a £92 million loss in the first half of 2017, compared with a £73 million profit a year earlier. The result came days after the departure of the airline’s finance director, who left suddenly after 15 years. Speaking before the announcement of the airline’s latest financial results,
Norwegian’s chief executive, Bjorn Kjos, hinted that 2018 would be a year of consolidation in the UK despite the new routes. “For 2018, we are concentrating on building up the places where we are already,” he said. “I don’t think you will see any new bases from us in 2018.” The effects are being felt, however. With premium fare rates falling, BA is moving from nine- to ten-abreast economy seating on its Gatwick fleet in order to compete with Norwegian, which operates more fuel-efficient aircraft. Norwegian’s new Boeing 787 fleet is the crux of the matter, as Kjos explained:
“It’s not about removing the free food. Flying the Atlantic, the 787 uses 32 tonnes of fuel less than a comparable aircraft. That’s enough to power 500 cars for a year.” Even this economic advantage will be trumped by the emergence next year of the first Airbus A321LRs, a narrow-bodied aircraft with a 4,600-mile range – allowing it to fly to many cities in Europe from east coast America – and a claimed 30 per cent fuel saving on the Boeing 757 it effectively replaces.
China Airlines’ Airbus A350
Delta received its first Airbus A350 in
July, complete with the Delta One suite. Its new business class is revolutionary for a US carrier, with each memory foam- backed seat encased by a sliding door. The A350 will operate between Detroit
and Tokyo Narita from October 30. Not only is it the first US carrier to introduce the new generation of composite aircraft, the A350 will also carry its new premium economy cabin, Delta Premium Select. Both this and the new business cabin should be game-changers for Delta. Premium Select is also being
introduced on flights from Detroit to Seoul and Beijing and is a genuine upgrade, not just an economy seat with extra legroom as some US carriers favour. The airline’s
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