Bmi is joining the lie-flat club. The carrier will upgrade its long-haul business class by next summer with new generation seating. Bmi's small fleet of wide-bodied planes are to be fitted with 'Perseus' angled lie-flat seats manufactured by Italian firm Aviointeriors.
Seating will be configured six across (2-2-2) on Bmi's Airbus A330s (it is not clear at this stage whether or not Bmi will continue to operate the single leased B767 currently used on the Saudi routes out of London) which fly from Heathrow to Mumbai along with Manchester to Chicago, Las Vegas, Antigua and Barbados.
Bmi says the new seats will feature on flights linking Heathrow with Jeddah and Riyadh when they revert to being flown by an A330 next spring.
Other than boasting a generous 80 inches of legroom, little more about the seating is known. Bmi claims the seats will be lie-flat but illustrations on the manufacturer's website suggests they are of the angled lie-flat variety rather than fully flat.
Seating class configuration will vary. Flights to Jeddah and Riyadh will be configured for 42 business seats with planes on other routes being fitted with 18.
For more information visit flybmi.com, aviointeriors.it.
Report by Alex McWhirter