New long-haul revolutionary configuration at B.Airlines

[tolipanebas]

For all of those of you who can't wait till they get to fly on the newly refurbished A330s of SN, there's now an interactive module on their website which allows you to explore the new cabin, both in economy and business class.

Play around with the seats, the mood lights, the PTV or get a fantastic business class diner served to you!

http://www.brusselsairlines.com/com/mis ... ience.aspx

[134flyer]

For all of those of you who can't wait till they get to fly on the newly refurbished A330s of SN, there's now an interactive module on their website which allows you to explore the new cabin, both in economy and business class.

Play around with the seats, the mood lights, the PTV or get a fantastic business class diner served to you!

http://www.brusselsairlines.com/com/mis ... ience.aspx

Nice! At FT somebody posted some pics:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18319364-post13.html

[Inquirer]

That interactive animation is very well done indeed: I am very much impressed by it!

About the product itself: seems very fine and business class looks really top to me!

I particularly like that blue mood light at night throughout the cabin...
Will this become BAir's signature in their premium cabins?

[Air Key West]

Although I don't like the cold dark blue, grey and white color combination, the new long haul business class cabin looks GREAT ! Cannot wait to try it out. Hope the economy cabin is comfortable, too, and is not like the new cabin on European routes with slim seats that, indeed, give you a bit more leg room, but are otherwise extremely hard and uncomfortable.
With such a new superb long haul product, I hope b.air finds the way and the means to first, at least, slightly increase frequencies on a number of African routes, and then quickly spread its wings to other continents. With such a premium product and with an adequate marketing campaign, b.air should be able to convince travelers they can now compete with the best airlines in the world if the price for the traveler remains competitive. At most airlines in Europe, consequently also at SN, long haul routes make money, but they need a loss making European network to feed the intercontinental flights. It's swings and roundabouts.
Let's hope they find the financial means to develop their long haul network. Would Etienne Davignon and the other bankers on the Board of Directors of SN Airholdings be prepared to grant loans to their "baby" to fairly quickly develop the intercontinental network ? LH's money is currently going to OS, not to SN. New investment money will have to come from somewhere.
But back on track : great new long haul product from what we see on the SN animation.

[RoMax]

With such a new superb long haul product, I hope b.air finds the way and the means to first, at least, slightly increase frequencies on a number of African routes, and then quickly spread its wings to other continents. With such a premium product and with an adequate marketing campaign, b.air should be able to convince travelers they can now compete with the best airlines in the world if the price for the traveler remains competitive. At most airlines in Europe, consequently also at SN, long haul routes make money, but they need a loss making European network to feed the intercontinental flights. It's swings and roundabouts.

Their long haul cabins are now up to the highest standard in Europe, it's like LX but with several updates/improvements (also Austrian will install these updated seats, with their own IFE system). But it's also about the service. I've no long haul experience with SN, but I would like to know how their service is on long haul flights... I've heard several very positive reports about their long haul business service (food, cabin crew, wine choice (they've won some prices with it),...), the most complaints were about old and/or broken seats. This is now fixed, so I suppose SN can offer a really good business service. But they'll have to prove it. Anyway, I know at least one airline that will really hate this...Air France.

About the marketing campaign, I think they are on the good way. You can't enter Brussels Airport without seeing advertising for their new NYC flights. Also in several other cities you see a lot of advertisement of SN, even where I live (close to the Dutch border). Until some years ago you never saw something about SN there were I live, now certain streets are full of SN advertisement... I would like to see/ know how their marketing is in other European and African countries and of course in NYC.

Let's hope they find the financial means to develop their long haul network. Would Etienne Davignon and the other bankers on the Board of Directors of SN Airholdings be prepared to grant loans to their "baby" to fairly quickly develop the intercontinental network ? LH's money is currently going to OS, not to SN. New investment money will have to come from somewhere.
But back on track : great new long haul product from what we see on the SN animation.

I doubt they'll invest...They didn't want to invest in the previous years (at least not enough), why would they do it now? I hate it...the lack of investment is one of the reasons of SN's problems. They focused too hard on the Virgin merger and the loss making European network, while they left the profitable African network asside...Resulting in network that is totally out of balance. Now they are back on the rigth way: expanding long haul network and reducing several EU routes, especially the typical holiday (low-yield) routes.

[Air Key West]

I would like to know how their service is on long haul flights...

I don't fly as often as before to Africa (went there a lot in the '90s, often with sabena), but I had the opportunity to fly them in Business class to Nairobi two years ago. I had no problems with broken or worn out seats. On the contrary, I found the seats comfortable (at least for me, it was a totally acceptable level of comfort in C class ; remember C is not First). Catering was very good. In-flight entertainment rather disappointing, but I seldom watch movies when flying ; I find the screen too small, so I prefer to read a book). On the flight to NBO the flight attendants did a good job. On the flight back, they were excellent (10/10). Well, so far it has been only one long haul travel with b.air, but on the basis of that experience, I definitely recommend them for intercontinental travel.

[b-west]

I've flown SN in business quite a number off times recently, long and short haul. In general I find the crews to be very good to excellent, thus far I only had one less pleasant experience. For long haul I dare say when it comes to service and catering, SN is among the best, certainly in Europe. So with this new cabin they'll be offering a product that'll be hard to beat.

[RoMax]

Simular to other stories I heard about SN's long haul service. Good to hear, I hope they'll keep to offer a high service standard, in combination with the new seats.

About the old seats. Some are positive about them, some have only complaints about them...but everyone agrees on one point: the IFE is quite worthless. It's totally outdated and it's about time they change it.

I'm curious to hear the first trip reports with the new interior, especially on the NYC flights. If they can show themself on the US market as a quality airline they make a huge step forward.

[sn26567]

Brussels Airlines passengers pleased with new long haul cabin

Brussels Airlines inaugurated its brand new long haul cabin this week, on a flight to Cameroon. The first long haul aircraft to be refurbished with the new Business Class flat bed seats, the ergonomic Economy Class seats and a state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system, is now flying between Brussels Airport and Africa and will soon set course to New York JFK. The first passengers that were welcomed on board were very satisfied with the result.

The first retrofitted airplane, Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300 (registration OO-SFW), left the hangars of Lufthansa Technik Malta last weekend after a month long maintenance and refurbishment that took roughly 10.000 man-hours. In the last few days the first passengers already got a taste of the new product on board flights to Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone. Their reactions were very positive. ‘This investment in superior quality and comfort was very much appreciated by all passengers”, was the conclusion of the Brussels Airlines crews after the first flights. “Our company now positions itself as a qualitative trendsetter.”

Metamorphosis

A big alteration took place with comfort, design and quality at the heart of every change. Business Class passengers can enjoy e new seat that can be transformed into a fully flat bed (180° flat surface). The flat bed is equipped with a pneumatic cushion that allows passengers to choose the softness of his/her seat. Thanks to a smart cabin configuration, 24 out of 30 Business Class seats have direct access to the aisle and 10 of those are single seats, without neighbouring places. Economy Class passengers travel in a new ergonomically designed seat and offers generous leg space, an adjustable leather headrest and more travel comfort overall. A new revolutionary in-flight entertainment system, called RAVE, offers over 100 hours of on-demand movies, documentaries, games, music and e-reading material.

Another new technology is the ‘Niceview’ flight information programme (developed by Lufthansa Technik), offering a three-dimensional view from various camera perspectives on which passengers can follow the exact course of the aircraft. The system also offers information on connecting flights.

The new long haul product will be gradually introduced on the entire intercontinental fleet throughout 2012.

Discover the new cabin in 3D here.

Brussels Airlines 05/04/2012

[sn26567]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/l3_FSJYzKE4[/youtube]

[Inquirer]

More pictures are posted on the B.air facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/ ... =1&theater

Now, I know it sounds a bit strange to say so, but that toilet looks inviting!

[Bralo20]

It's a big improvement however, I would have added 110/230 volts in Y also... And the AMSAFE seatbelts with airbags are a neat future in C!

[shockcooling]

Absolutely a huge step forward, I hope they'll attract more passengers because of the cabin only!
Any idea why the last row with 4 middle seats has 4 screens? Why are those 2 middle seats wider than the rest?

I hope the passenger behind you has the respect not to touch his screen to hard while you're sleeping...

[tolipanebas]

Any idea why the last row with 4 middle seats has 4 screens?

All screens are fully integrated into the seatback of the seats in front and there are 4 seats in front, so also 4 screens. Theoretically, they could indeed have left out 1 screen, but why bother? It would make the hardware of that seatrow technically different from all the rest and give the visual impression of a screen missing: it's more aesthetically this way, don't you think?

Why are those 2 middle seats wider than the rest?

They are not really wider, there's just some extra fabric around their edges to avoid the 3 pax on the row behind to be staring deep into to long cabin just in front of them, or alternatively to block off the view straight onto these pax when looking towards the rear of the cabin from in between the seats ahead.
Nobody likes it very much when bored children from 10 rows in front can entertain you with their miming techniques all throughout the flight for instance, so better to close off that line of sight.

[RoMax]

The cabin looks great, also the colors/athmosphere of the cabin looks much 'warmer' than I expected with their color choice.

This is a HUGE step forward and I'm sure pax will like it. I think it's about time to test SN on long haul flights.

[Flanker]

D

[RoMax]

If that business class is so bad, why has LX won several awards with it as best business class in Europe? And these seats of SN (and the seats that OS will get) even have several upgrades to make it better based on the response of passengers on the LX planes.

The only thing revolutionary about it is a 9 abreast configuration on an A330 business class
Those lie-flat seats look so narrow and how can they not be when you have 9 rows of seats in the cabin of a A330?

If you count 9 abreast in this configuration...visit: http://www.forkids.be/leren/indexleren.htm and shut up...

One of the 'big' complaints about the LX seats is that they are too hard altough they can also be adjusted from hard to soft. This system is improved on the SN seats, so that people can adjust the seat even better to their own preference. Same with several other small and bigger issues pax have with the LX seats. But I never heard a complaint that they are too narrow...probably because they aren't?
Most people call it the perfect combination of comfort and privacy, while still having the ability to 'be together' when flying as a couple when you have two seats next to eachtother.

[Inquirer]

I have flown business class on Swiss many times and they seem to have the same seats at first glance: believe me: they are simpy marvellous at night.
This is so much better than those bombastic business class seats put up in some sort of a pastic shell like you sometimes see: they do look great at first, but the seats do not go flat, your feet stick out into the corridor and you are angled away from the window sometimes... Not to mention that when you are not flying alone, you aren't sitting together with your partner as each pax is put up in its own shell.
No, no... Give me the Swiss (or now also BruAir) configuration any time; and those who pretend that other configurations in use are better, clearly do not fly a lot in them.
But then what do I know right?

[Flanker]

deleted

[Inquirer]

Is it important for individual pax comfort how the seats are spread out then?