Today, Air Canada released some new cabin interiors. While much of media attention has been on their business class seat (which I’ll write a separate post on, as I haven’t covered the new cabin interiors of any of the new North American carriers), I wanted to dedicate a post to their new premium economy seat.
This is because I wanted to explore the direction that the current latest and greatest premium economy seats are going in. Specifically, I’m interested to know if innovation is flatlining in premium economy, to the point where we’re seeing more creativity in the industry’s latest and greatest economy seats compared to premium economy.
Air Canada releases new 787 premium economy
Today Air Canada released new cabin interiors onboard their 787-10s, which will be debuting later this year. They have branded this their “Glowing Hearted” cabins, drawing from a line in their national anthem.
The premium economy cabin looks as follows:
Air Canada 787 Premium Economy
These seem to be the Recaro R5 seats, very similar to what will be offered on British Airways’ new 787s. From what I can see, there are fold-up legrests and fold-down footrests at all seats.
The cabin will feature 28 seats, so it features an extra row compared to the airline’s existing 787s (four, instead of three, in a 2-3-2 configuration). Air Canada has highlighted the following features in their new premium economy cabin:
- Extended privacy wings
- A 16-inch 4K OLED screen with Bluetooth audio (this actually might be the largest in the industry, beating out ANA and Lufthansa’s current 15.6-inch screens)
- USB-C and AC power
- Mid-seat multi-purpose storage (you can see this below the armrest, and I think there’s a storage pocket under the TV as well)
You can find a full spec sheet of the Air Canada 787 here (the Air Canada A321XLR spec sheet is here, though it won’t feature premium economy).
Innovation in premium economy seems to be plateauing…
I mainly wanted to visit Air Canada’s premium economy cabin because…it seems to be quite similar to those offered by many other carriers. We cover premium economy a fair bit at The Alviator, and it seems like airlines are just playing copycat with one another, as opposed to coming up with new and revolutionary products (to be fair, a similar trend is happening in business class, where everyone is just getting one of a few versions of business class seats with doors).
It seems like many of the latest premium economy seats just feature:
- Privacy wings, which are awesome if you really value privacy
- Some form of enhanced tech, especially with USB-C charging and bluetooth audio
- Some form of storage under the armrest and TV screen
- The screens are getting marginally bigger (and higher quality), though obviously there are space constraints with the overall seatback width, and airlines are at the point where they’re just one-upping one another by a fraction of an inch
Beyond this, I don’t see too much in the way of innovation. One thing I noticed was that Air Canada barely put any time into marketing their premium economy product – there are countless pictures of their new business class seats, but two pictures of premium economy (they even have three pictures of their 787 economy class). It almost seems like their new premium economy cabin was an afterthought, where they just picked the off-the-shelf solution that looked the nicest (and presumably wasn’t too expensive).
I feel like we’re seeing a very similar trend in premium economy to what we saw in economy class a few years ago – everyone just caught up to the same type of seat based on what they thought was most modern in the market, as opposed to what could actually elevate the passenger experience most within space constraints. Some airlines have gone ahead and invested in improving seat cushioning technology, storage options, and further ancillaries opportunities in economy class products (e.g. Qantas’ Project Sunrise, Air New Zealand’s Skycouch, etc.), though I’ve not seen the same level of innovation in premium economy thus far.
New premium economy products feel very “one and the same” (especially since Recaro has such a huge market share)
Perhaps the biggest innovator in the market is Japan Airlines with their A350 seat, though I don’t actually think they did that well relative to the effort and money they invested into the product, given it’s not much more comfortable than premium economy on other carriers.
Japan Airlines’ premium economy is strong, but not better than other carriers, which is a shame considering they have the most seat pitch out of any airline featuring premium economy
I feel like airlines are missing an opportunity by not investing in premium economy
I’m aware of the general internet narrative that premium economy is not a true premium cabin (some may even consider it a scam), and would like to make the argument that airlines are missing revenue by buying into this customer-led narrative.
As first class is being featured on fewer carriers, premium economy is increasingly replacing the role that business class used to hold, as the “middle” cabin onboard an aircraft. By marketing the product as “slightly more comfortable economy”, airlines are barely able to command the current price point that they’re charging for the cabin, which takes at least 50% more space per seat anyway. As oil prices move up, the trend in premium economy pricing has stayed closer to the direction that economy class fares are travelling, as opposed to following the upward trajectory of business class fares – despite having even less capacity overall compared to business class. I’m not saying that as a consumer I want to see premium economy fares increase the same way business class fares did, though I feel like there’s probably more untapped opportunity for airlines to make premium economy feel more like a premium cabin, which would reflect in the way it was priced.
Airlines have the opportunity to invest more in at-seat ergonomics and tech (as well as onboard service), without increasing the square footage available per passenger. For example, I haven’t seen a bespoke creative recline feature or seat cushioning technology at a premium economy seat, arguably since the cabin became popular many years back. For example, if Cathay Pacific’s A350 economy class can have a fold-out headrest, what’s stopping premium economy from seeing something similar?
There are plenty of (other) reasons why Cathay Pacific’s A350 economy seat isn’t my favourite, though this fold-out headrest is a genius solution that requires no more space…this is the kind of solution that premium economy cabins need to adopt
I’m keen to explore this in a separate post, as I feel there are definitely untapped opportunities to further elevate a premium economy product, amidst space constraints.
Conclusion
Air Canada released a new premium economy seat today, though they put much less media attention on it than they did with their new business class seat. The seat itself looks comfortable and I’d like to try it out, though I can’t help but feel like some momentum is needed in the premium economy product innovation market, given that everyone is just playing catch-up to each other with ever-so-slightly better privacy, storage, and at-seat tech.
Do you have any creative ideas for what airlines could do with premium economy?
I like the warm colours and fabric of the seats though… a nice change from the bland blue on so many airlines
I’m a premium economy loyalist, as I’m too poor to fly business. I’m not looking for innovation in the seat; I believe there is enough differentiation between carriers in pitch and recline, IFE, to drive preference. I’m quite content with the hard products of KLM and Qantas and appreciate the differences between those seats when compared to, say, American or China Airlines. I would prefer to see a dedicated restroom, lounge access, general service, and improvements in F&B. If there was one physical innovation I’d be impressed with, it would be some seat pairs where the divider/armest could be lifted to create a “loveseat” style seating situation. The extendable headrest from Cathay is neat, but I don’t think it would really generate any media buzz or meaningful wallet-share conversion, so I could see it being pitched but ultimately nixed by corporate leaders. At the same time, when you shift your evaluation to the economy, what can you really do there? Headrest enhancements, lol.
@ theboywanderz – That’s so fair. I’m keen to know what seat differences you notice most between American and CI / KLM and Qantas – I haven’t flown American, and the closest I’ve gotten to CI’s seat is the Swiss seat I flew a couple of years back!