We learned this week United Airlines may introduce another new business class seat, which it likely will use to delight transcontinental domestic passengers, and perhaps thwart the growth plans of a certain New York-based airline.
Scott Kirby, United's president, teased the news Tuesday at the International Aviation Forecast Summit in Denver, saying the airline likely will install new flatbeds in some Boeing 737 MAX 10s, the first of which will be delivered in 2020. United has developed a prototype seat, Kirby said, and some of the airline's best customers will test it this fall.
Conventional wisdom suggests airlines can only sell flatbeds for premium revenue on two domestic routes: New York-Los Angeles and New York-San Francisco. But in the past three years, New York-based JetBlue Airways, with its Mint product, has disrupted the market, selling flatbeds from New York and Boston to cities like Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Diego, and apparently making good money. In some markets, Delta has followed, deploying its Delta One product to keep passengers from defecting.
United also has added internationally configured aircraft on more transcontinental routes, though it has been quiet about most of the flights, so most passengers may not know they can fly a better product. But the financial results from those tests, such as Los Angeles to Washington Dulles, likely have persuaded United that flatbeds can work elsewhere.
"Trying to fly from Denver to L.A., I think you would have a hard time making the economics of lie-flat work," Kirby said. "But would Newark to Seattle work? Probably. Would San Francisco to D.C. work? Probably. We think there is demand, but it's almost exclusively transcon demand."
I interviewed Kirby this week in Denver. Learn more about what he said about fees, basic economy, and Polaris seat delays in my story.
