Gulf Air receives first retrofitted A330
Manama, July 23, 2014
Gulf Air has received its first retrofitted A330 aircraft at Bahrain International Airport yesterday (July 22), arriving from Canada.
The plane is newly-configured for a total of 214 seats in a two-class configuration of 30 Falcon Gold Class and 184 Economy seats with significant enhancements across both cabins, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
The revamped A330 product introduces fully-flat bed seats in the airline's Falcon Gold Class, upgraded seats in Economy Class and a state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system throughout, and was designed specifically for Gulf Air, integrating features based on passenger feedback.
Realised by three key partners: Avianor, Zodiac Aerospace and BE, the aircraft's new Falcon Gold seats convert into fully-flat beds measuring 1.90 metres in length.
The new 22-inch wide armchair seat offers more personal space than the airline's previous A330 business class product. The new Economy Class seats feature a greater recline, an 18-inch seat-width and an adjustable head and foot rest.
All seats include an integrated audio-video on demand feature and a touch screen (15-inch in Falcon Gold class and nine-inch in Economy).
A suite of movies, video and audio titles in several languages are on offer, in addition to games.
A USB port is also available in every seat.
"We are delivering on our commitment to continually upgrade our product offering strengthening our long haul operations with our retrofitted aircraft," Gulf Air acting chief executive Maher Salman Al Musallam said.
"This is an important milestone for Gulf Air as we continue to shape our new strategic direction, which sees us strive to transform and revitalise all facets of the national carrier's operations while offering the best in class product."
The second retrofitted A330 is scheduled to arrive in early August while the carrier's A330 fleet retrofit is scheduled to be completed by the last quarter of the year. - TradeArabia News Service
