Qantas unveils new premium economy seats for Dreamliner

Qantas unveils the new premium economy seats that will be on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners | PICTURES

Qantas says the new seat has “a unique recline motion that provides a class-leading level of comfort”. Picture: Qantas

Qantas has unveiled the new-look premium economy seats that will be on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from October this year, claiming better seat recline, more personal space and enhanced tech features.

“This new premium economy seat has some serious wow factor,” said Qantas boss Alan Joyce presenting the new cabin design to media today.

“You have to experience how well it supports you when you recline to realise it’s completely different from anything in its class.”

The two-seat configuration in the two-three-two layout. Picture: Qantas

Qantas says the new seat has “a unique recline motion that provides a class-leading level of comfort”.

“When the rear of the seat reclines, several sections shift to support your body as you move into a more relaxing position.”

And it could mean a better experience for the passenger behind, too — easing one of the most vexing of air travel gripes.

In this design when the person in front reclines, their backrest doesn’t just fling backwards into the face of the person behind, like usual. Instead, their whole seat rolls in a more curved, back, down and under motion that reduces the invasion of their personal space. The difference is in the pivots: most seats use just one, but these seats use two, reports news.com.au.

A Qantas statement lists other features of Premium Economy on the its Dreamliner:

* A separate cabin of 28 seats, configured in a two-three-two layout to improve aisle access for middle passengers.

* A seat that is almost 10 per cent wider than Qantas’ existing Premium Economy (and as wide as Business Class on other airlines) as well as increased recline.

* An ergonomically designed headrest that can be fitted with a specially designed pillow and a re-engineered footrest that significantly increases comfort when reclining.

* High-definition Panasonic in-flight entertainment seat back screens that are 25 per cent larger.

* Five individual storage compartments and two USB charging points per seat, as well as shared AC power and a personal LED light designed to minimise disturbance of other passengers.

The new entertainment and tech design. Picture: Qantas

“The new Premium Economy seat is based on a prototype by Thompson Aero Seating and heavily customised by leading Australian industrial designer David Caon,” Qantas said.

“We’ve made sure this seat offers genuine comfort through design elements not seen before on aircraft. There are a number of new bespoke design elements that we hope will really set the benchmark for this class,” Mr Caon said in the Qantas statement.

David Caon reclines. Picture: Jeremy Piper

The first of eight Dreamliners will be delivered in October this year with Qantas’ first international 787 services starting from December between Melbourne and Los Angeles. Flights between Perth and London, which will directly link Australia and Europe for the first time, begin in March 2018.

Qantas’s fact sheet on premium economy.