Asiana Airlines’ new business class

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Korea's two national flag carriers are introducing state-of-the-art in-flight facilities.

Asiana Airlines adopted a new A330-300 aircraft on its Seoul-Tokyo route last Sunday. The plane operates between Gimpo and Haneda airports for two daily services.

The new flight has 30 business and 260 economy seats.

The space between seats in business class is 58 inches, and they are elongated to 165 degrees.

The size of personal LCD monitors in business class is 15.4 inches diagonally, slightly larger than the previous 15 inches. Those in economy class have increased to 10.6 inches from 6.4 inches.

The audio and video on demand (AVOD) system of the in-flight entertainment program has also been upgraded, with better resolution and faster speed.

The lavatory in business class has a higher ceiling and a window to make passengers feel more comfortable.

Besides the newly adopted plane, the carrier finished upgrading in-flight facilities of its 16 aircrafts with the same interior in February. The aircrafts cover almost all international routes and are expected to satisfy passengers' needs for comfort.

The adoption of the new plane to the Japanese city is part of the airline's strategy to focus on the golden route, where flights have been filled to 90 percent of capacity on average for the first four months of this year.

``The number of Japanese travelers to Korea keeps increasing. We'll take the lead in service between the two countries by providing them with the best cabins,'' an Asiana official said.

Korean Air’s Kosmo Suites

Korean Air will also fit all of its mid- and long-range aircraft with next-generation premium seats.

With total spending reaching $200 million, it will install replacements on its 32 aircrafts from September to early 2011 and install the new seats on another 38 planes to be delivered starting next month, including B777-300ERs, A380s and B787s.

The airline will also introduce new seat styles on the aircrafts ― Kosmo Suites, Prestige Sleeper and New Economy.

Kosmo Suites, in the first class cabin, were designed by Acumen, a British airplane seat design company. In wood color, the 180-degree lie-flat seat is 15 centimeters wider than previous designs. Individual monitors were also enlarged to 23 inches from 17 inches. One-touch seat controllers and a large screen-type partition between seats are also among the new features.

Prestige Sleeper seats in business class are the first lie-flat bed among business class seats among the nation's carriers. The space between seats is 188 centimeters, 67 centimeters wider than before. The monitor was expanded to 15.4 inches to deliver the full excitement of the AVOD system.

New Economy, in economy class, has a 10.6-inch-large monitor, 2.2 inches larger than the current one in use. Its new AVOD system has better resolution and a higher speed.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr