Ahead of three new Dreamliners heading its way later this year, Etihad has peeled back the curtain for the airline’s new Boeing 787 Business Suites.
Revealed as part of the recent Arabian Travel Market held in Dubai, Etihad’s new Business Class hard product will take wing in the third quarter of this year, representing a considerable climb in luxury for the Gulf carrier.
Etihad currently has an order for 11 Dreamliners in total. When those first three are delivered, the airline will begin rolling out the new product until all of the new jets feature 32 private business suites. Each of these spacious suites comes with a sliding privacy door with even higher walls than Etihad’s highly regarded A350 business class.
There is currently no retrofit program for its existing fleet of 39 Dreamliners so it’s assumed that those 787s currently in the air will continue with the legacy product, which still offers a reasonably lush experience for Etihad’s premium passengers.
As I mentioned in my comparison review between Etihad’s B777, B787 and A350 business class products last year, the B787 is currently the middle child when it comes to the airline’s various versions of the business class suite. The B777 is still the most dated and the A350 is the most modern, but it’s now looking like the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner version of Etihad Business will be the airline’s finest offering to date, based on a Collins Aerospace Elements suite.
The main difference here is that space is used more efficiently with subtle details that increase both the height and the width of the suite when compared with the A350 business class. Aside from a taller privacy door, there are more storage areas, a 17.3-inch “Rave Ultra” 4K entertainment screen with Bluetooth and a larger 78-inch bed with a new mechanism that allows the seat to reach deeper towards the back of the shell when fully flat.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade as far as technology goes is Etihad’s use of new WiFi equipment from Viasat using Ka band technology, offering much higher speeds than what the airline usually offers. Theoretically, this means that Etihad’s revised entertainment system will also include live television.
Etihad’s new 787 Business Class will be split into a two-cabin configuration with 32 of the pods at the point-end of the plane and a refined Economy cabin featuring 271 seats.
Etihad has not yet confirmed which routes will be serviced by the airline’s new fleet of Dreamliners.
