Getting a good night's rest while flying economy class is impossible for most long-haul travellers. Air New Zealand aims to change that with its Economy Skynest, which offers six full-length lie-flat sleep pods that give economy passengers much longed-for horizontal time.
New Zealand's national carrier, which operates some of the world's longest flights, such as the upcoming Auckland-New York service at up to 17 hours 40 minutes, said it has filed patent and trademark applications for the Economy Skynest on Wednesday.
‘We have a tremendous amount of development work underway looking at product innovations we can bring across all cabins of the aircraft,’ Air New Zealand Chief Marketing and Customer Officer Mike Tod said in a statement.
‘A clear pain point for economy travellers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out. The development of the Economy Skynest is a direct response to that challenge,’ Tod added.
The airline would make a final decision on whether to use the bunks next year after it has assessed the performance of its inaugural year of Auckland-New York operations.
The pods would be over two metres long and more than 58 centimetres wide. While the exact positioning of the bunks within the aircraft was still to be confirmed, Air New Zealand said, it would be in the economy cabin.
