Malaysia Airlines - New Business Class Seats on A330 Aircrafts

For the past 12 months, I've been travelling a fair bit and was fortunate (very in fact) to experience flying on Business Class (BC) for flight more than 4-hours (in total) due to company policies. Happy to report that I am a big fan of Malaysia Airlines (MH), choosing to fly on the National Airline as first choice. Only when the route is not supported by MH, I will opt for the One World alliance airlines so I could continue to enjoy the benefit as an Enrich member. 

My first Business Class experience - MH16 March 2015 onboard B777-200

Most recent Business Class experience - MH002 March 2016 onboard A380-800

My regional travel are mostly less than 4 hours (Manila, Hong Kong, Chennai is a 3:50, 10mins short of 4hours to experience BC ;-)) and I will not likely to experience the new A330-300 Business Class. However, the good PR people in MH has shared with me a short write up so I could share this with you readers in return. My thoughts on the new seats, based on my limited flying experience will be included as TS - [Comments] in the write up below. 

Hopefully, that will help you understand the differences. For comparison, I will pull the two planes I've flew BC with MH, the A380 and the B777.

Please also bear in mind that the other two planes services longer haul aka >10hours. The business strategy for MH has now focused more towards regional travel, hence, the introduction of A330.

Malaysia Airlines - New Business Class Seats on A330 Aircrafts

On Tuesday, 22^nd March 2016, Malaysia Airlines unveiled its first A330-300 aircraft fitted with the new Business Class seats at its Engineering Complex in Sepang. The new seats has taken off on its first flight, MH141, from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney on 23 March 2016.

The launch event was officiated by Malaysia Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer, Paul Simmons, who was joined by the airline’s staff, invited guests as well as members of the media. All guests were given the opportunity to experience the fully revamped Business Class cabin.

Here are some cool facts on those seats;

· Measures at 44 inches, with a width of 20 inches, and a length of 76 inches when it’s laid out flat. 
TS - A380 is 72inches (pitch), 22inches (width) and 74inches (flat). B777 is 62(P), 18.5(W) and angled seat (meaning not real lie flat, but the seat comes with an attachment to raise the leg rest up, appearing to be laying flatter. 

· One of the best received business class seats in the industry. 
TS - A few frequent traveler says it reflect the Aer Lingus BC ;-)

· Come with increased working space, with 90% of all seats having direct aisle access. 
TS - from the PR photos, it appear to have more space compared to both A380 and B777, Hopefully with more privacy too. The forward facing seating doesn't allow much privacy, and it's evident if you are seated at the Aisle. Even with the  privacy screen in-between the seats up, your work are still visible by the person across the aisle.

· 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 seat layout. 
TS - A380 is 2-2-2 and B777 is 2-3-2. All are forward facing. A reverse herring bone would be nice for privacy and space. This will reduce the numbers of seat by at least 10 and potentially raise the price of BC significantly.

· Extra stowage space for personal items. 
TS - hopefully, as both the A380 and B777 is not as generous if you sit on the aisle side. Window seats has ample, in fact too much storage on the A380.

· Each seat is equipped with a 16 inch touch screen inflight entertainment system. 
TS - A380 is 17, B777 is 10.4

  

The new Business Class seats are available on Malaysia Airlines’ A330 flights between Kuala Lumpur and Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, China and India from March 2016 onwards.

Some photos taken from the MH page, specific to the A330 new BC configuration of 1-2-2 seating. 

MH has uploaded a video of the BC as well. Enjoy.