Years of delay: Airline boss announces start date for real beds in airplanes

Those who fly cheaply on holiday often spend hours sitting in economy class. Comfort is out of the question. One airline wants to change that: in a year's time, it wants to take off with real beds that travelers can book by the hour in addition to their seat.

After several delays, Air New Zealand has now announced an approximate launch date for its airplane beds. Airline boss Greg Foran told Forbes magazine that the Skynest bunk beds will be launched in 2026. Insiders say they will be introduced in the spring of next year.

"Skynest is my favorite example of innovation and pushing boundaries at 35,000 feet," Foran told Forbes. "It's something that's never been done before in commercial aviation, and we're incredibly excited to see it take to the skies next year." He said the service would initially be offered on the airline's ultra-long-haul routes.

These include the routes from Auckland to New York and Chicago. In the past, the company said that "North America is the perfect market" because "there is a premium segment there that values ​​comfort and sleep on long-haul journeys." The company wants to cover these very long distances with specially converted Boeing 787-9 aircraft, the so-called Dreamliner.

Four hours of sleep from 250 euros

The airline does not refer to the individual bed as Skynest, but to the facility as a whole. It consists of a total of six sleeping capsules, three of which are on top of each other. The bunk beds are to be located in the middle of the cabin between Premium Economy and Economy Class. They are "available for four hours each and are equipped with a large pillow, sheet and blanket, earplugs, a reading lamp, a USB port, as well as ventilation and lighting for maximum relaxation," Foran explained. According to the latest information from Air New Zealand, prices are to be between 250 and 350 euros per time slot.

The special offer was announced for the first time in 2020. Most recently, the New Zealanders said that the beds would be ready for use from September 2024. But that never happened. Due to high safety and comfort requirements, the launch was postponed several times. Almost two years ago, Air New Zealand spoke of a "comprehensive research and design process" that had already lasted "five years and 170,000 hours".

While business and first class passengers are already travelling on seats that can be converted into beds at the touch of a button, economy passengers have to travel seated on all airlines. Only when flights are not very busy do people in "wooden class" have the option of spreading out over several seats and creating a kind of bed. Air New Zealand described the new bunk beds as a "revolution in the flight experience" in the cheapest travel class.