Hawaiian Airlines’ Snazzy Flatbed Seats Reveal Its Big Ambitions


Skift Take

Hawaiian Airlines is introducing new business class seats. But if you live in the mainland United States, you may not see a lot of them.

Hawaiian Airlines may be best known for taking West Coast vacationers to the islands, but increasingly, the carrier has global ambitions. This is part of the reason it is introducing a new business class on its Airbus A330s, with 18 flatbed seats, all 76 inches long. Initially passengers flying between North America and Hawaii should see the new seats, but over time, Hawaiian plans to deploy most aircraft with the cabin on longer flights to places like Tokyo, Sydney, Auckland, Brisbane, Beijing and Seoul. Hawaiian has already started retrofits, and the cabin will be on all of the airline's Airbus A330s by the end of next year. Designed by Optimares, an Italian company spec