Much has been written about the Virgin Australia’s forthcoming upgrade to its business class cabin. On the other hand, less has been written about its new Premium Economy product. Today, Virgin Australia have revealed details of its new Premium Economy product.
The new Premium Economy product will feature a redesign of the cabin, and will include 24 seats, with a seat pitch of 41 inches, this is 3 inches more that the current offering.
On board, passengers will dine on a plated meal service, that is “inspired by business class”. The wines served with the meal will be selected from the Business Class cellar.
At the aiport, there will be dedicated check-in, Priority Boarding and Priority baggage (up to 64kg of baggage), enabling guests to speed through airport formalities.
The Larder, is an interesting addition to Premium Economy. The larder will stock an assortment of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, light meal options and snacks. It will be replenished during the flight as needed. This facility will be dedicated to the Premium Economy cabin.
Premium Economy fits in the middle-ground between business class and economy. To some extent it fills a gap in the offerings that resulted when Business Class started getting lie flat beds, and other amenities previously only found in First Class.
A typical Premium Economy cabin will feature better food, amenities and comfort than economy class – but does away with the flat-bed seat options that have become the new standard for business class cabins. Since its introduction across various airlines, Premium Economy has had good market success on long haul routes such as the Australia to Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles routes that Virgin Australia use the Boeing 777 aircraft on..
The upgrade of the Premium Economy cabin will take place at the same time as the new Business Class product is installed.