Etihad Airways introduces private suite for first-class passengers on Abu Dhabi-London flights

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has introduced private suites for first-class passengers on one of its Airbus A340-600 aircraft flying between Abu Dhabi and Heathrow Airport in London.In a statement, Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, said it would extend the facility of private suite for first-class passengers to its entire network of wide-body aircraft within the next 16 months and that it is a part of the company’s plans to upgrade its premium-class services.

A second Airbus A340-600 plane with the private suite will join Etihad Airways’ fleet in September 2009.

The company is to get 5 Airbus A330-300 aircraft having the private suite in the next two years and also will retrofit nine Airbus A340 planes now in service by December 2010, the statement added.

The private suite in the Airbus A340-600 plane comes with a leather seat (upholstered by the leather company Poltrona Frau) that stretches into a full-flat bed which is 204.5 centimetres long.

Other features include an illuminated wardrobe, a “large and luxurious” changing-room complete with a full-length mirror, a refreshment cabinet, a washbasin as well as over 600 hours of onboard entertainment on a 23-inch LCD screen.

It may be noted that Etihad Airways was selected as the best business-class airline of 2009 in a passenger survey conducted by Skytrax, the travel consultancy based in London.

James Hogan, chief executive of Etihad Airways, said in the statement that despite the decrease in the number of passengers in the first-class and business-class worldwide, these premium classes are “vital to the bottomlines of airlines.”

Though premium-class cabins normally comprise less than ten per cent of the overall seats on a plane, they bring in over 30 per cent of revenues.

This had prompted many major airlines to provide more in-flights comforts in order to woo wealthy travellers such as, for example, Emirates Airlines providing a shower for first-class passengers on its Airbus A380 aircraft and Qantas Airways offering 203-centimetre legroom in its business-class cabin.