Shanghai-based carrier Juneyao Airlines will be outfitting its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft with Thompson Aero Seating’s fully flat Vantage XL seat in its business class cabin.
The Chinese carrier, which became Star Alliance’s first Connecting partner in May last year, is expected to take delivery of its first Dreamliner in late September or early October, with a total of three due to be received by the end of this year.
Juneyao has 10 Dreamliners on order, which will debut on key domestic services before being rolled out onto international routes. Back when the airline finalised the order, it stated it would be using them to launch new routes to North America, Europe and Australia.
The Vantage XL is a forward-facing seat that is designed to be configured in a staggered 1-2-1 layout, and is already used by a number of airlines including Delta, Qantas and, most recently, Philippine Airlines.
Here is what the Qantas seat looks like.
Width is designed to be between 23 and 24 inches, and pitch is 42 inches. Seat numbers for the aircraft have yet to be confirmed.
Meanwhile, the aircraft will feature Recaro Aircraft Seating’s CL3710 slimline seat in the economy class cabin. Dutch airline KLM was the launch customer for the CL3710, and back in April this year Singapore Airlines announced it would be outfitting the seats on its new generation Airbus A350 and B777X aircraft.
As with the business class cabin, Juneyao Airlines has not unveiled details of how it will configure the Dreamliner’s economy class section, though what we do know is that Recaro designs these seats with six-way adjustable headrests and 13-inch in-flight entertainment (IFE) screens.
The Dreamliner will be Juneyao Airlines’ first wide-body aircraft, joining its existing fleet of A320s and A321s. The first of these is set to feature a unique peony livery.
