Airbus in a public filing with the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration revealed details about JetBlue's forthcoming premium
seating product, including a plan to install "at the beginning of
2014" four "mini-suites" with closing doors on some A321
aircraft used for transcontinental routes.
JetBlue in March revealed plans to provide for the
first time a premium seating product, focusing on services connecting New York
and Boston with San Francisco and the Los Angeles area.
Chief commercial officer Robin Hayes said the goal
was to "wow" customers with both the product and its corresponding
price point.
Airbus in its April filing described JetBlue's plan
as a two-class layout with 16 business seats and 143 economy seats. Airbus noted
that four of those business class seats would be "mini-suites ... intended
to provide privacy to the occupants."
"Typically, the complete closure of the single
mini-suites is possible by means of a sliding element, moving parallel to the
aircraft longitudinal axis," according to the Airbus filing, which
requested an exemption from FAA safety rules.
Airbus acknowledged that "the proposed
configuration" does not comply with an FAA requirement stating that
"no door may be installed in any partition between passenger
compartments." FAA essentially established those rules to ease the process
of emergency exiting.
Airbus in its request noted that it "already
installed mini-suites" on aircraft operating in Europe and that competitor
Boeing "has the same kind of suites" on some Boeing 777 aircraft.
JetBlue, would become the first airline to offer such a seating product within
the United States.
"While the FAA filing from Airbus contains the
technical specifications as part of the certification process, all of the
details including the branding and full experience will be revealed later this
year," according to a JetBlue statement.
A blog post by the Airline Passenger Experience
Association first reported JetBlue's plans.