Good news for frequent fliers, especially those headed to or from Scandinavia: Beginning on April 1 this year, Finnair’s flights to Tokyo and New York will have full-flat seats in Business Class. Even better, Finnair will offer full-flat seats on flights to Beijing beginning on May 1, and the full-flat allocation extends to Hanoi, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Osaka and Shanghai as of June 1.
The specs: The Zodiac Seats UK Vantage model seats, which are already in use on Finnair’s four newest Airbus A330s, stretch out to a bed that measures 79 inches in length and 23 inches in width.
After the full-flat retrofit program is complete, all of Finnair’s long-haul Airbus fleet will have full-flat seats in Business Class (with the exception of three older aircraft). Due to maintenance or other technical reasons, designated full-flat routes may still be served by these other aircraft, which feature angled lie-flat seating in Business Class. These three aircraft will be the first to be removed from the fleet as Airbus A350 XWBs begin arriving in 2015.
Finnair currently operates 15 Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft in its wide-body fleet, serving a network of 15 long-haul destinations in Asia and North America. A further 11 Airbus A350 XWBs (with an option for eight more) are due to arrive beginning in H2 2015, which will help the airline double its revenue from Asian destinations by 2020. Finnair will be the first European airline to fly the A350.