The Seat That Erases the Line Between Business Class and First Class

A new Business Class seat introduced by Zodiac Aerospace at the Aircraft Interiors Expo this year has put so much First Class in the Business cabin that we’re assigning it the new label: VIP Business First Plus Cabin for One.

Or Plus First Business, VIP Personal Cabin.

Or “Seriously? I can sit here… by myself… for the whole flight?” Business Plus First Solo Cabin, VIP Edition.

Zodiac kept the name shorter. The FUSIO is an amalgam of everything we’ve ever liked about luxury seating in the commercial and VIP aircraft sectors, rolled into a high-design glossy rich package. FUSIO lets airlines make the most of space at the front (read pack-in more seats) but in such a manner that air travellers will neither notice nor care nor feel slighted or unloved. We suspect passengers will struggle to find something in the FUSIO to complain about. Far be it from us to limit the creative potential of passengers when it comes to grumbling over the onboard experience, but the FUSIO requires advanced kvetching skills to find fault.

Source: Zodiac

The seat, which can be as wide as 34″ inches, feels more like a soft lounge chair inside your own private cabin. It adjusts at the push of a button to various desirable travel positions from upright to full-lie flat bed and introduces a new seated position developed by Zodiac this year: the Zero Gravity cradled position.

Zero Gravity cradling is exactly what the name implies–you feel like you’re floating in space, inside a cosy cradle which brings back pleasant memories of a happy childhood enjoying warm cinnamon porridge from a silver spoon. Or it will give you the rich satisfaction of knowing that you can finally afford a whole collection of silver spoons if you wanted–because you’re such a clever business person. Either way, it’s a previously unheard of comfort seating position.

The FUSIO cabin is designed to hold everything you would expect it to. There is abundant storage, and space for an IFE screen large enough for a full-immersion viewing experience.

Zodiac is targeting the FUSIO at luxury carriers which may re-think the value of First at the front on certain routes and which are eager to make better use of their aircraft, without sacrificing even a tiny bit of their hard-earned reputation for spoiling passengers silly.

In this, the FUSIO succeeds.

Of course, Zodiac would not name the airlines it hopes will fly FUSIO, but based on their description we’re pretty sure they’re not U.S. airlines. Zodiac’s future FUSIO buyers may even be experiencing a momentary and unfortunate falling out with once-close-friend-and-still-alliance-partner U.S. airlines.

There’s a good market for FUSIO in Asia, too.