Stelia Aerospace has launched what it describes as a reinvented version of its Rendez-Vous business class seat.
“Everything from two years ago has been re-thought and redesigned with the help of three airlines and a frequent flyer association,” said Alain Bordeau, vice-president sales and customer experience.
Layout of the seats is now in a staggered configuration, which also creates what Bordeau calls a “honeymoon” configuration too. The latter, he says, offers “a real double bed in the sky” two metres in length. However, there is also a divider between the two seats if required – “when the honeymoon is over,” he jokes.
New to the design is that there is full integration of the seat inside the shell of the unit, which Bordeau claims as unique.
He also flags the design is modular, which he says ”allows airlines to play as much as they want in terms of customisation,” while noting that when the seat is in the bed position, the ‘nest’ from where the back of the seat was,” provides passive sound insulation”.
The pitch of the new Rendez-Vous seat is a minimum of 44in, extending to 78in in bed layout, while the seat width is 24in. “The pitch can be extended to 50 inches and we’re already working on this while in discussion with some Asian carriers, as many of their flights are long-haul or even ultra-long haul,” Bordeau says. “We think of it as a ‘super business class’ product. And, in fact, it’s easy to imagine it as a first class product as well.”
