China Eastern to fly Dreamliner with first class cabin to Auckland

Passengers travelling from Shanghai to Auckland with China Eastern can experience the airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from September 1 this year.

The Chinese carrier operates daily flights between Shanghai and Auckland (please refer to the flight schedule below). As of now, China Eastern is using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft (33E) on the route. This two-class aircraft has 30 business class seats laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration and 204 economy class seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.

Starting September 1 this year, China Eastern will use its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the Shanghai-Auckland route. The Chinese carrier began to deploy its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on some domestic routes and international flights to Singapore and Melbourne earlier this year. The 285-seater aircraft is configured with four classes: first class, business class, premium economy and economy class.

The first class features Thompson Aero’s Vantage First product. All the four first class seats, laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration, are outfitted with a sliding door and have direct aisle access. With an additional seat in front designed for companion dining, the two middle seats can be converted to create larger shared space for four people. Other amenities include a 32-inch HD touch screen, mini bar, a near field communication (NFC) sensor and a three-point seat belt.

The business class uses Thompson Aero’s Vantage XL seat products. There are 26 seats laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration. Like the aircraft’s first class, each business class seats also has a sliding door and provides direct access to the aisle.

More specially, the aircraft features an independent cabin for premium economy class, where there are 28 seats laid out in a 2-3-2 configuration. The seats have a seat pitch of 38 inches, a seat width of 19 inches and a seat recline of seven inches. Each seat is upholstered with leather and outfitted with a 13-inch HD screen, independent AC power and USB plug, mini bar and larger tray table. As for the economy class, there are 227 seats laid out in a 3-3-3 configuration and fitted with a 12-inch IFE screen.

To get a better idea of what the aircraft looks like, click here for an immersive VR tour of the interior of the aircraft.

Besides Auckland, Singapore, Melbourne and some domestic routes, China Eastern also started to fly its Dreamliner to Budapest from June this year.

In addition to the Shanghai-Auckland route, the Chinese carrier has also upgraded the aircraft used on its Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shanghai-London service recently.

ceair.com