Hawaiian Airlines Unveils Lie-Flat Seats

Hawaiian Airlines photo.

Hawaiian Airlines introduced new lie-flat seating on Thursday that will soon be installed on its flights.

The new seating is part of Hawaiian Airlines’ new Premium Cabin space on its Airbus A330 aircraft. Each Premium Cabin space will include 18 lie-flat seats in a 2-2-2 alignment. The airline says that each seat will have intuitive controls, along with access to USB and A/C power ports and an advanced in-flight entertainment system that is viewable through tablets.

“Our custom-built fully lie-flat seats and our new Premium Cabin redefine the leisure travel experience to Hawai’i,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian Airlines president and CEO. “In details little and large, we have crafted a new seat and a new cabin to look after our guests in unparalleled comfort accompanied by the authenticity and warmth of our in-flight Hawaiian hospitality.”

California-based consultant Paul Wylde and Italian seat manufacturer Optimares worked with Hawaiian Airlines on the seat design and shape, which includes curves and colors that are meant to “evoke gentle ocean waves.” The leather on each set is made by Poltrona Frau. Each seat can fold into a 180-degree bed that is 20.5 inches wide by 76 inches long.

Additionally, fiber-optic lights between the premium and main cabins is meant to pay homage to the “Makali’i,” which was instrumental in guiding the voyage of early Polynesian explorers.

With the addition of the Premium Cabins, the amount of seating on the Airbus A330-200 flights will drop from 294 to 278, including 18 seats in the Premium Cabin, 68 in the Extra Comfort area, and 192 spots in the Main Cabin.

The Premium Cabin seating area will debut as soon as next month when its first newly-outfitted A330 operates in Hawaiian Airlines’ West Coast network as a “surprise-and-delight” for passengers, and there will be a total of 23 planes with the new seating by this summer. Sales for the Premium Cabin will start this fall.