A380’s War For Business Class Air Travellers

The competition for the “high yield”, that is profitable, business class market is red-hot out of Sydney. Not one but three airlines: Qantas, Singapore Air and Emirates are all planning to have the new A380’s flying the Singapore-Sydney route by February 2009. The game just got a whole lot harder for airlines with the worsening world economy so filling these seats are even more important to the airlines now.

Singapore Airlines A380

Qantas was actually the first airline to introduce business class: they added priority luggage collection, a private cabin with its own staff, an “exclusive” coat closet and an “ever open” free bar service back in the 1970’s. Things have come a long way since then. We have been past the lie-flat chairs (which had an annoying slope) to the true lie-flat (aka horizontal) bed. The extra-wide seats now come complete with enough controls to run the Starship Enterprise. On-demand movies, power points for the laptop and of course top chef quality food are all stand items in business class these days.

Emirates A380 Business Class Interior

The minimum to even be in the big league of business class these days is a seat width of more than 20 inches and a seat pitch (that’s the distance between seats) of at least 73 inches (185cm). Lets check out what the big three are offering on the Sydney-Singapore route. But remember that these seat specifications ONLY apply to the A380’s on this route, you need to know which aircraft type you are booking to ensure these comfort levels.

Singapore Air
Singapore Air wins hands down is top of the 2008 Business Class Survey results at flatseats.com. Why? Well not only does their cabin look spacious; it is. The business seats are 34 inches (84cm) wide and 78 inch length (you sleep diagonally). Singapore conducted market research and found out that their customers cared less about spas and mile-high showers and more about a flat bed and more personal space. Asian travellers in particular, hate having to climb over a stranger and Singapore Air offers their business class pod style with only four seats across the aircraft, no clambering. Also on offer is a big monitor, hundreds of choices on the Krisworld video-on-demand, noise-canceling headphones and conveniently located laptop power, USB ports and a headphone socket.

Emirates A380 : Interior Business Class

Emirates
Emirates, like Singapore Air, also locate their business class on the upper deck. Narrower than Singapore’s seat its still comfortably wide and the length of 79 inches (210 cm) is more than adequate. The seats are staggered so everyone gets aisle access. There is a shoe box which doubles as a foot rest (and yes it takes big-sized western shoes!). There is a place for your laptop and even your glass. You get a wireless PDA to navigate your electronic environment from the chair’s message function to the 1000 entertainment options on the 43cm LCD screen. You can access the bar and mingle with first class – but you won’t have access to their showers.

Qantas
The flying kangaroo has gone for longer rather than wider: their seats have the most generous seat pitch of 80 inches (203cm). The cabin configuration is 2-2-2 so you may have to step over the bed to exit. The LCD monitor is only 31cm, and is the only one of the three airline’s to be stowed in the arm rest. The usual facilities of on-demand video, USB, laptop power

Qantas A380 Taking off, Brisbane

The reports are that booking to and from Asia are significantly down and the travel industry is worried. The first few months of next your could be a great opportunity to grab a bargain on any of these airlines: and even Qantas’s A380 business class looks pretty darn good compared to the view in economy!

Photo Credit tripletrouble HendraLee