American plans to have a 1-1 layout in first class on their Airbus A321 aircraft. Photo from American.
Previously, American Airlines has not been well known for providing a high-end domestic product. I have heard many people say that they will avoid flying American at all costs, not knowing if they will get an almost new 737-800 with Boeing Sky Interior or a dated MD-80 aircraft (for the record, I love flying on the MD-80s).
American has ready started renewing the interiors of some of their older Boeing 757s and pre-Sky Interior 737s. All these improvements are great, but what about their plans for the over 400 aircraft that they currently have on order?
The airline has started givingus an inside look at their future plans for the interiors of some of their aircraft. While we have already seen mock-ups for their new Boeing 777-300ER, I think the most interesting thing about this newest information is their transcontinental Airbus A321, which has a three (and a half) class layout.
What American plans to have for domestic business class on the A321. Image from American.
That’s right… three (and a half) classes on a domestic, single aisle aircraft. And we aren’t talking “here is an extra 3 inches of legroom,” class, we are talking lay-flat seats in both first and business class here. Between New York’s JFK and San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), American will run the A321 with 10 first class seats in a 1-1 layout, 20 seats in business class in a 2-2 layout, 36 Main Cabin Extra seats (economy with a few extra inches of legroom) in a 3-3 layout and finally 36 Main Cabin seats with a 3-3 layout.
“We intend to be the only airline to offer a three-class service and the first to offer fully lie-flat First and Business Class seats on transcontinental flights with our Airbus A321 transcontinental aircraft,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer. “By using the A321 aircraft with three classes of service and outfitted with fully lie-flat premium class seats, all-aisle access in First Class, and state-of-the-art amenities, we will be able to continue providing an industry-leading premium experience on transcontinental routes, while significantly reducing costs through improved fuel efficiency.”
I am sorry, but that is a cool layout — five rows of first class, five rows of business class, six rows of Main Cabin Extra and six rows of Main Cabin. No matter where you sit, it is probably going to feel like you have your own private airline cabin. However, will such a low number of seats make economic sense for American? Can they fill ten first class seats on a transcontinental flight? It seems like their bean-counters think so.
Each seat will also have its own seat-back entertainment system, power outlets and access to Wi-Fi.
Economy class plans for the American Airbus A321. Image from American.
The big question I have is — will this actually all happen? Based on what we are seeing with their product concepts, American is heading in a great direction. A bunch of new aircraft on order, plans to offer a top of the line domestic product and the motivation to make it happen.
Of course, the two big elephants in the room are: #1 the airline is in bankruptcy and #2 there is a good chance that American and US Airways will merge. Both of these things could have a huge impact on the future of American Airlines. No matter what happens, I hope that the “new” American (whatever that will mean) sticks to this plan. They need to have a product that can compete with newer airlines, like Virgin America. Good luck American — I hope to be able to test one of these new domestic products soon.
ADDITIONAL AMERICAN AIRLINES PHOTOS: [nggallery id=16]
Lufthansa is using this Airbus A321 (D-AIDG) to operate their first scheduled flight using biofuels.
Airlines and airline manufactures have been experimenting with biofuels for quite sometime. It has been successfully shown that airliners are able to fly on biofuel and companies around the globe are working to make sure it is economically feasible and sustainable.
Last week, Lufthansa Airlines started flying an Airbus A321 (D-AIDG) on scheduled service from Hamburg to Frankfurt using a 50/50 mix of regular and biofuel on one of its engines and standard jet fuel in the other.
“The main focus of this test is to examine the effects of biofuel on the lifecycle of the engines and other operational issues,” Martin Riecken, Director Corporate Communications, The Americas explained to AirlineReporter.com. “Two of the main roadblocks are availability of biofuel on a larger scale and the price point. Right now, biofuel is about 60-70 percent more expensive than regular jetfuel.”
The aircraft will operate on the biofuel for a test period of six months. The biofuel is similar enough to jet fuel, that the aircraft needs no additional modifications.
Christoph Franz, Chairman and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, said via a press release: ’œLufthansa is the first airline worldwide to use biofuel in scheduled daily flight operations. We are thus continuing to steadily implement our proven and successful strategy for sustainability.’
The fuel used on the Lufthansa A321 is developed from pure biomass and consists of jatropha, camelina and animal fats. The airline requires that the original product originates from a sustainable supply and is not in direct competition with food production.
When asked if Lufthansa plans to continue to fly with the biofuel Riecken replied, “There are no current plans to continue biofuel operations after the completion of the six-month test phase, but we will continue to support further research efforts.”
By implementing new technologies, Lufthansa has improved their fuel efficiency by over 30 percent since 1991 and on average, their fleet has a fuel consumption of 56 MPG per passenger.
Lufthansa Airbus A321 (D-AISE) coming from Hamburg.
There have been quite a few airlines testing out different biofuels, but none that have run biofuels on a long-term basis during scheduled passenger service. Starting in April 2011, Lufthansa will start a six month trial using an Airbus A321 on scheduled flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt using biofuel.
Only one of the A321’s engines will be using a 50-50 mix of biofuel and normal aviation fuel. They hope to use this six months to see how the use of biofuel will affect maintenance and engine life. The A321 will have a unique set up since it will only fly this route and only be fueled in Hamburg. Normally aircraft are used on different routes and can be fueled at almost any airport.
During the six month trial, Lufthansa expects to save about 1,500 tons of CO2 emissions. ’œLufthansa will be the world’s first airline to utilize biofuel in flight operations within the framework of a long-term trial. This is a further consistent step in a proven sustainability strategy, which Lufthansa has for many years successfully pursued and implemented,’ said Lufthansa Chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
This project, that Lufthansa is calling “burnFAIR,” is being funded in part by the German government. The government is investing about $3.3 million (2.5 million Euros) into the project, where Lufthansa is investing about $8.7 million (6.6 million Euros). The goal is to find a viable alternative to standard aviation fuel that can power airlines around the world with less emissions and be sustainable.
The use of biofuel is one element in a four-pillar strategy aimed at reducing overall emissions in air traffic at Lufthansa. Environmental goals can only be achieved in the future with a combination of various measures, like ongoing fleet renewal, operational measures such as engine washing and infrastructural improvements. Cheers to Lufthansa taking this next step, I will be very interested to see how it works out.
