Asiana Airlines has revealed the first and business class cabins on its newly-delivered A380 aircraft.
The South Korean carrier currently has two superjumbos in its fleet, with four more A380s on order.
Having started services in August on its Seoul to Los Angeles route (see news, July 22), Asiana intends to deploy the aircraft onto more long-haul services in the future.
Asiana’s A380 first class cabin, with twin doors open
First class couple seat with mood lighting and new larger in-flight entertainment system (IFE)
Asiana partnered with London design agency Tangerine to customise the cabins. Tangerine is no newcomer to the design of airline cabins and seats, having been responsible for the development of British Airways' first class product, which launched in 2010.
For Asiana's A380 first class seat design, Tangerine worked with B/E Aerospace, the world leaders in interior cabin products, to design a number of features.
These included the installation of slanted blinds along the twin doors to allow layers of light to enter the cabin space, as well as simplified seat controls with more options.
Meanwhile, the design agency also made several upgrades to the A380's existing business class seat.
Working alongside Sogerma, the manufacturers of the original business product, Tangerine reduced the curve at the front of the shell that encases the seat. By making it squarer and reconfiguring the seat wings, this helps to increase privacy for passengers.
Business class seat in bed position
Standard chair features such as the headphone jacks, USB port, cocktail table and meal tray were also repositioned to be more convenient.
Sogerma has been impressed with the changes, with Patrice Boursiquot, the company's Asia-Pacific general manager, saying that "the line of communication with Tangerine was excellent and the product is outstanding".
Clement Huang