Hawaiian Airlines Unveils New Business Class Cabin

Hawaiian Airlines will soon introduce lie-flat seats for the first time in the airline’s Airbus A330s, deployed in the U.S. West Coast destinations next month as a “surprise and delight” offering for the passengers before the new cabin is marketed and offered for sale this Fall. The first aircraft with the new cabin arrived on property earlier in the week.

The business class cabin in Hawaiian Airlines A330s will include 18 lie-flat seats. The airline collaborated with California-based consultancy PaulWylde to incorporate in the new seat, evocative elements of the winds and ocean, while mating organic textures and a sand and sea color palette throughout the cabin.

Aligned in a 2-2-2 configuration, the Optimares-designed seats are ideally tailored to leisure guests (couples, families, honeymooners), while offering superior functionality to the business traveler.

“Our custom-built fully lie-flat seats and our new Premium Cabin redefine the leisure travel experience to Hawaii,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s 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.”

Besides the new Business Class cabin, the island state airline is also increasing the number of premium economy seats from 40 to 68. Dubbed the Extra Comfort, the product features 36 inches of seat pitch, priority boarding at the gate, complimentary on-demand in-seat entertainment, and a personal power outlet.

Hawaiian Airlines Extra Comfort Cabin. (Credits: Hawaiian Airlines)

With the new configuration, the seat number in Hawaiian’s A330-200s will decrease from 294 to 278, while the fleet will be retrofitted with the new cabin configuration from this fall through early 2018.