Reframing longhaul away from time and distance and towards needsRunway Girl

With the arrival of longer range narrowbody aircraft like the Airbus A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX, and the imminent launch of the extra-long-range A321XLR aboard Iberia, there continues to be a fair amount of discussion around what “longhaul” really means.

But is it time to reframe our thinking about how to design the experience aboard aircraft that perform these flights, not in terms of distance or time, but in terms of what time of day the flights will operate, and what passengers’ needs are?

How would cabins, seats, and service differ if we categorised — say — long afternoon flights differently than overnight red-eyes?

A key example is the translatlantic market. With very few exceptions, flights between the US east coast and Europe fly eastbound overnight and westbound during the daytime.

The day flight is a lovely afternoon’s run, perfect for enjoying the bright sunlight at 38,000 feet after a wet weekend in London with a few movies, a few glasses of something delicious, a nice nap, and a leisurely few hours’ graze through lunch and some snacks before arriving at dinnertime.

The eastbound overnight flight is a classic red-eye, especially the earlier ones: depart New York at 6pm, fly for around seven hours, arrive at 1am body time. The only thing is, that’s 6am in the UK, so you walk around like a zombie all day. In terms of service, that’s at least 1-2 hours to get you fed and watered on departure, and then 1-2 hours to get you fed, watered and buckled in again a few hours later on arrival, leaving 2-4 hours for sleep.

Efforts to maximise the amount of sleep has led to a lot of passenger experience innovations over the years, from pre-order and ‘sleeper’ service meals for premium classes to the economy arrival breakfast of a weaponised long-life croissant/hockey puck. (Innovation, it should be said, is not always positive.)

Despite being at the sweet spot for longhaul narrowbodies, transatlantic routes aren’t necessarily unique: eastern Australia to southeast Asia is just a bit longer, western Europe to the Middle East is a bit shorter. Even longer versions of these flights — long transpacific, west coast north American to Europe, Europe to Asia — are really just adding a few more hours onto the concept in many ways.

Now consider the A321XLR, which received EASA type certification in July. The twinjet can fly up to 11 hours with an optional additional centre tank, providing airlines with a “fantastic” and “low-risk” opportunity to open up long-range routes, Airbus vice president cabin marketing Ingo Wuggetzer noted during the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.

The A321XLR has attracted over 550 orders — including from a bevy of low-cost carriers which “could redraw the budget holiday map”, notes The Telegraph.

Airbus slide of A321XLR customers and possible routes

The A321XLR has attracted an array of airline customers, including nearly a dozen low-cost carriers.

With this twinjet, and indeed other narrowbodies flying longhaul, there is an opportunity to design service concepts on board that consider passengers’ needs versus time of day.

A “long afternoon” service concept might start with a lounge or gate-area content preloading station. Onboard, a larger lunch service with a signature mocktail/cocktail could be followed by a couple of snack rounds perhaps including an afternoon tea experience. Maybe an ice cream during the movies à la Virgin Atlantic’s famous usherette trays?

Naturally, some sort of self-service spot for a drink and a stretch makes sense, as JetBlue has done with its snack pantry aboard the pond-jumping A321LR.

For red-eyes, the focus could be about pre- and post-loading as much of the experience to maximise sleep. Lounge dining is a clear winner here, but in economy, could a light supper be offered as a grab-and-go option at the departure gate — a sandwich or wrap and water or juice, maybe?

What about offering amenity items like an eye mask and socks at the gate to avoid flying unused items unnecessarily on board? How about a grab-and-go cart with a few options of breakfast bars and some mini cans of Starbucks at the arrival gate?

Some of this would require a fair amount more control around the gate area, and a relative amount of gate space is needed for a longhaul narrowbody compared with a larger twinjet. But as “longhaul” flying as we know it evolves, so too could the aircraft experience.

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