Etihad new A321LR: first class, but surprisingly business-y

Etihad’s twenty Airbus A321LRs start arriving in August, and will feature two first class mini-suites — in the form of front-row business-plus products that tesselate neatly with the business seat behind — but are they enough for first class?

The product, which seatmaker Stelia confirms to Runway Girl Network are its Opera SA (Single Aisle) outward-facing herringbone, will be installed as the two first class doored mini-suites at the front of the aircraft, with 14 business seats without doors behind.

16 of these seats, of which two are the first class suites, are heading to Etihad’s A321LR. Image: Etihad

The main difference in first class is a rear-closing sliding door — slightly lower than the rest of the suite — and a wide bench covered in the same leather (or leather-effect) material as the business seats’ footwell and headrest. The inflight entertainment screen is also slightly larger by 2.7” (17.3” in business and 20” in first, presumably measuring the diagonal). 

You have to look really hard to differentiate first from business class if the door isn’t visible. Screenshot: Etihad

Structurally, the only different element seems to be the bench seat front wall monument, which for some reason has a triangular-shaped protrusion towards the passenger that oddly retains the width constraints of the footwell from business class.

It’s odd to retain the triangular element that juts into the passenger’s space, restricting the otherwise unrestricted footwell. Image: Etihad

Unlike other front-row business-plus seats (from Starlux to Lufthansa and many in between) there’s no higher shrouding or translucent barrier behind first class, which seems a strange omission. 

Given the position of the table it doesn’t look like there’s a partner dining option. Screenshot: Etihad

Notably, the seat pan for this first class seat — where the “magic triangle” egress cutout is required in business, but wouldn’t be needed in the front row first suite — retains the same cutout size and shape, even though the bench seat doesn’t extend to meet it, leaving a frankly bizarre gap in the sleeping platform. This combination of triangular protrusion and seat pan rather inexplicably mean that two of the key benefits of a front-row business-plus seat, an expanded footwell and wider sleeping surface, are not offered on this seat.

The integration between the seat and the front wall monument is very strange indeed. Screenshot: Etihad

Surprisingly, there’s little to no differentiation between business and first here in terms of colour, materials or finish either.

The design language and shape of the business and first seats match the airline’s recent business class products. Image: Etihad

Business and first are identical in everything from the colour of the shell thermoplastics to the seat cover, leathers, shrouding material, table surface, and side lamp. Even the expansive front wall within the mini-suite is covered in the same beige linen-effect presumably thermoplastic material that covers all the business class seats.

Design elements including the headrest, footrest and side lamp are identical between first and business. Image: Etihad

This choice is, frankly, baffling: first class passengers expect at least some form of visible aesthetic differentiation from business. Even American Airlines is making its front-row business-plus seats, which it is selling as an ancillary upcharge rather than first class, visually distinctive.

It looks like there’s a dual lavatory set behind business class, which syncs with the airline’s seat maps. Screenshot: Etihad

As the question of how to differentiate first class from business class in the age of these business-plus products continues to be answered in different ways by different airlines, it will be instructive to see whether (and if so how) Etihad uses soft product here. Will a bright throw pillow and signature blanket be sufficient? How will the tightly constrained galley impact the food and beverage selections? It seems there is a sizeable monument position behind business class that the seatmap suggests is a pair of lavatories, so will the front lavatory be first class only?

Further back (indeed, much further back, with a total of eight combined rows of first and business class, plus the pair of lavs) economy class bears Collins’ Meridian seating platform design signatures, including the raised rounded ring element around the table latch.

Here, Etihad is advertising seats of 18.4”, so presumably it has chosen the option for slightly narrower aisles and slightly wider seats, which would make sense for this longer-ranged aircraft.

Connectivity onboard, the airline notes, is “Viasat’s advanced, multi-orbit ready system, which is capable of speeds of up to 1 Gbps, and available from gate-to-gate where permitted”. 

Economy seats have design elements of Collins’ Meridian platform. Image: Etihad

Etihad has some twenty A321LR aircraft on order, and will take ten by the end of this year, the airline says, highlighting “destinations including Algiers, Athens, Bangkok, Chennai, Chiang Mai, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Kolkata, Krabi, Medan, Milan, Paris, Phnom Penh, Phuket, Riyadh, Tunis, and Zurich.”

Related Articles:

• The “magic triangle” problem with narrowbody outward herringbones
• Business-plus front-row seats: where we are and where we’re going
• Etihad reveals PaxEx for new 787s including Elements seat, Viasat IFC
• Lightweight Stelia Opera Essential seat asks hard questions in biz

Featured image credited to Etihad

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