V IRGIN A 350
Kerzner explains: “A lot of our research showed that
customers wanted more sense of privacy, and when you
close this privacy divider, nobody can really see you in
your suite and you can’t see other people in their suites.
A ‘full door’ doesn’t go up to the ceiling so it doesn’t give
you full privacy anyway.
“As an airline we’re very focussed around sociability,
and so when we looked at a full door we felt it would
impede sociability with other customers and also with
our crew. Our research has shown that other airlines have
had some challenges with having both full doors and
a good service offering on board. Particularly in sleep
mode, our divider gives you privacy but doesn’t close you
off from giving you the sociability and service that we’re
famous for.”
The seat does make one crew interaction less
important though: making the bed. The other Upper
Class suites have flipover beds, and many passengers like
to request that their bed is deployed and made up while
they change into their sleep suits in the bathrooms. The
A350 suites transition seamlessly from an upright seat
into a bed, making the crew
involvement a little less
necessary, especially as the
fitted sheet is simple to
apply. Naturally the obliging
crew are still happy to make
up the bed upon request.
Minor criticisms would
be that while the open
shelving looks attractive,
there is a lack of secure
in-seat stowage space.
And while the meal table
is usefully large – great for
working on a laptop –some
passengers find its size a
aircraftinteriorsinternational.com
042 NOVEMBER 2019
little constricting. According
to Kerzner, the table is due
to be replaced with a smaller
version, following this
constructive feedback.
Of course no commercial
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airline can offer everything to every
passenger – the offer is the result of careful consideration
of safety, economics and comfort. “Everything is a
tradeoff, from aisle width to seat space,” Kerzner states.
“With the A350’s social space and suites we’ve tried
to give our customers the most usable personal space
that we possibly could. Every decision along the way
has tradeoffs.”
However, this sentiment did not apply to one key
decision point for the team: how to bring the Virgin
Atlantic feel into the cabin. The Upper Class cabin may
represent a new design direction, but there is no
mistaking its distinctly Virgin feel.
ABOVE: VIRGIN OPTED FOR OPEN
STORAGE UNITS, WITH A GOLD
FINISH ON THE SHELVES
INSET: THE FLYING LADIES THAT
USUALLY ADORN THE VIRGIN
ATLANTIC FLEET ARE BEING
REPLACED WITH A SERIES OF
MALE AND FEMALE ‘FLYING
ICONS’ TO REFLECT THE
DIVERSITY OF BRITAIN
“We’ve tried to give customers
the most usable personal
space we possibly could ”
Fixer Upper
The trim and finish schemes on the suites are great,
but there are a few consistent issues with their
fitting. A noticeable issue, but a simple fix.
“The beauty of being the size of Virgin and having
the empowerment of Virgin, whether it’s from Sir
Richard or Shai Weiss the CEO on down, is that if
there is a better way to do something, then we’re
going to take that road. That has meant we have
found better ways to create fabrics, trim and finish.
That also means that when we go into service there
might be parts of those finishes that we might want
to enhance or evolve. We have had some teething
issues and taken some learnings from them, but
that’s us taking something that is unlike what any
other airline has and making it even better.
“It’s like building a new house – in your first week
after moving in you will need workers to make a few
tweaks. The hard product we have is incredibly solid
and well built. Over the next few weeks it’s just a
question of how we do any tweaks.”
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