Air New Zealand has unveiled an innovative lie-flat prototype sleep product for economy class travellers that it has named the ‘Skynest’.
The carrier has now filed patent and trademark applications for Economy Skynest which provides six full length lie-flat sleep pods.
Air New Zealand chief marketing and customer officer Mike Tod says that as the airline operates some of the world's longest flights, such as the upcoming Auckland-New York service at up to 17 hours 40 minutes one way, it is committed to making flying more comfortable.
"We have a tremendous amount of development work underway looking at product innovations we can bring across all cabins of the aircraft. A clear pain point for economy travellers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out. The development of the Economy Skynest is a direct response to that challenge," Tod said.
While it has filed patents the final decision on whether to operate the Economy Skynest will be taken next year after it has assessed the performance of its inaugural year of Auckland-New York operations.
The principle behind the Skynest is that economy customers would be able to book a period in the flatbed option, while retaining the seat, with each pod being refreshed between users.
In addition to offering a flatbed sleeping option to economy customers, Air New Zealand said that it expected other airlines would licence the product to use on their long haul routes.
Air New Zealand to offer sleep pod option to economy travellers
