Why first class seats are holding new aircraft

Heating or cooled seats. Ultra high definition TV screens. Banks Convertible beds. Access to All-Aisle. And, of course, the coveted privacy door.

The first and more luxurious business class and business cabins that have hundreds of pieces and require the approval of the regulator are the last retention as the new planes are late for customers, according to the heads of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers.

Boeing It has 787 Dreamliners, a twin plane used on some of the world’s longest flights, on the ground in its South Carolina factory “that are maintained for the delivery of the seats, which obviously arrive quite late in the assembly process,” said Kelly Ortberg CEO at a Barclays industry conference on February 20.

Part of the problem is the hurry of the airlines to earn high payments by offering comforts and more of the low space on board, even if a few additional inches.

“The seats are being certified, and in reality it is not the part of the seat of the seat,” Ortberg continued. “It is the cabinet and the doors … for first class and executive class. These are quite complex systems, and obtaining those certificates has led both seat suppliers and us more than expected.”

Similar problems are reaching the main rival of Boeing, Airbus, the CEO of the European manufacturer, Guillaume Faury, said in a earning call the same day.

“We have seat delays”, as well as the “monuments” of cabin as galleys and cabinets that are “delaying the time in which we can deliver a fully completed plane,” said Faury.

Together, companies represent the vast majority of the commercial aircraft market.

Aircraft deliveries are crucial for manufacturers’ income because customers pay for most of the price of an airplane when they receive the plane, instead of when they order it.

Some new aircraft cabins are still waiting for certification, and delays are added to years of Supply chain Strains and work scarcity that leave the pandemic.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has fired hundreds of workers from the Federal Aviation Administration in a cost reduction spree. The agency said the positions are not “security critics”, but did not say if personnel problems could further stop the aircraft or other certifications.

Installing the latest generation seats in the front of the cabin means millions in income for airlines. For example, Delta airlines On Friday he sold a round -trip economy ticket between New York and Paris during the first week of May for $ 816. Move to Delta One, the upper level seat of the operator and the same route Salta at $ 5,508.

The longest ranges of the new planes compared to the oldest models are opening new non -stop routes for carriers.

“No one is happy at this time,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of the ATMOSPHER REESARCH GROUP travel consulting firm. “They cannot enter their new exhibition ponies.”

A business class seat can have around 1,500 pieces, and the weight is key, especially for an industry that has worked hard to eliminate the fuel cost weight on board. That includes the use of thinner paper for backup magazines for lighter cutlery.

Recaro from Germany, an important manufacturer of plane seats, says that his R7 The executive class seat weighs about 80 kilograms, or around 176 pounds.

“You are trying to make everything as light as you can and also have pleasant aesthetic value,” Harteveldt said.

Swiss flag bearer, Swiss, said the center of gravity changed in some of its planes after trying its new seat models, so you have to make design changes and is looking at a “weight plate” before the new seats can fly commercially.

Customers “clearly tell us that it is time to modernize the interiors of the cabin of our long distance fleet, especially the (Airbus) A330,” said a Swiss spokesman in an email. “At the same time, we are working on solutions and observing trends and technologies that could allow us to achieve a different and more useful weight distribution.”

The airlines who work to shine the front of their aircraft cover everyone: Qantas, Delta, American of Australia Jetblue and others. The new Allegis de Lufthansa cabins in the Boeing 787 stop at the certification, said a spokesman.

Singapore Airlines said in November that he will bring First class seats to its longer flights, more than 17 hours. The CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a press release that the offers “will push the limits of comfort, luxury and modernity.”

American Airlines, meanwhile, has been waiting for months to debut a new seat for its wide body aircraft and has just obtained approval for those in its 787-9 Dreamliner. A spokeswoman said that the airline is working with the regulators and that it plans to introduce the new suites in its Airbus A321XLR, a long-range version of an airbus key plane and its Boeing 777-300ER modernized at the end of this year. He presented The seats in September 2022 and initially planned to debut them last year.

“However, the most important thing I can say on all these fronts is that we depend on the supply chain. At this time, that supply chain, especially with respect to the seats, is very adjusted,” said CEO Robert Isom in a earning call in October. He said that the company’s message to suppliers and partners is: “‘Work with us to ensure that we obtain them, that team, on the dock as expected,’ and we are really pressing to ensure that this is the case at this time.”