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Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced that it will be retrofitting its 787-9 Dreamliners with its latest Sky Suite seat before the same seat is then retrofitted on to the smaller 787-8 aircraft. This is the seat that JAL debut on its 777 aircraft last year and the airline plans to, eventually, have this seat on all of its longhaul fleet.
Japan Airlines 787-9 Dreamliner
The retrofitted JAL 787-9 Dreamliner will operate in a 3-cabin layout offering Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class.
JAL 787-9 Seat Map
Business Class
Current JAL Dreamliners offer a 2-2-2 layout although, thanks to a clever design, passengers still have direct access to the aisle without having to climb over the person sitting next to them.
JAL current 787-9 Business Class Cabin
The new JAL Sky Suite III offers passengers a cabin with a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout (as seen on, amongst others, the American Airlines 777-300ER) and also gives all passengers direct aisle access.
JAL Sky Suite III
JAL Sky Suite III
The new Sky Suite will allow JAL to increase the number of Business Class seats in the cabin to 52 (from the current 44) without the need to reduce the number of seats in Premium Economy (35) or the number of Economy Class seats (116).
The numbers that JAL have provided are as follows:
- Bed length – 198cm (78″ or 6″ 6′)
- Bed width – 53cm or 74cm when the removable armrest is stowed (21″ or 29″)
- Seat width – 51cm between the armrests (20″)
- Personal monitor – 17″
Other features of the Sky Suite III include:
- Removable armrest on the aisle side with storage for keeping small items
- Retractable privacy partition “to meet needs for both privacy and communication with travel companion“
- Retractable large dining table suitable for working on your PC, etc., and storage to hold personal items
- Universal PC power outlet, USB port, and 4-stage adjustable LED light on all seats
JAL Sky Suite III
JAL has also provided details of the Premium Economy and Economy Class cabins on the 787-9 Dreamliner.
Premium Economy (JAL Sky Premium)
The airline is keeping with am 2-3-2 cabin layout for Premium Economy and offering seats with the following dimensions:
- Seat width (between the armrests) – 49cm (19″)
- Seat pitch – 107cm (42″)
For comparison:
That’s about the same seat width as you get on Singapore Airlines, slightly less than on Qantas but more then on British Airways.
The JAL Premium Economy seat offers 4″ of more seat pitch (legroom) than the Premium Economy seats of Qantas, BA or Singapore Airlines.
JAL Sky Premium
Features of the JAL Sky Premium product include:
- A fixed back structure which provides “relaxing space” even when a passenger seated in front reclines
- Divider between seats for added privacy
- Plastic bottle holder, cup holder, spacious table
- New 12.1″ touch-panel monitor
- Universal PC power outlet and USB port on all seats
Economy Class
This is where I think JAL really shines.
The JAL 787-9 offers a cabin with 8-across seating where other airlines (like Qantas, British Airways, ANA, KLM) all offer 9-across seating.
This means that while the airlines mentioned above only offer Economy Class seats with 17.5″ width (max), JAL offers seats with almost 19″ of width….and that little bit extra can make a lot of difference.
JAL 787-9 Economy Class
The seat pitch is also better than in most 787-9 Economy class cabins with JAL offering 33″ while other airlines mostly offer between 31″ and 32″.
Retrofitted 787-9 Routes
The first retrofitted 787-9 will appear on the Tokyo Narita – Kuala Lumpur route from 31 July 2017 and will operate on that route 6 days/week. It will also operate the Tokyo Narita – Dalian route 1 day/week.
Tokyo Narita – Kuala Lumpur
JL723 NRT 11:20 – 17:45 KUL (Daily except Tue)
JL724 KUL 22:50 – 07:05+ 1 day NRT (Daily except Tue)
Tokyo Narita – Dalian
JL723 NRT 09:30 – 11:45 DLC (Tue)
JL724 DLC 13:00 – 16:55 NRT (Tue)
As more 787-9 aircraft are retrofitted with the new interior further international routes will benefit from the upgrade.
Images courtesy of Japan Airlines
