Korea's Asiana Airlines will launch its first Airbus A380 flights in June – and we've got the first detailed photos to take you inside Asiana's superjumbo, including its 'private room' first class suites and upper deck business class seats.
Asiana's A380 First Suites
A dozen First Suites are nestled in the nose of the main deck, arranged in a 1-2-1 layout with sliding doors to create a private room.
Each suite contains a 'buddy seat' to enjoy a meal, take a meeting or just shoot the breeze with a travelling companion.
The sleep service includes duck-down duvets...
... with a minibar and personal closet in each suite.
Each suite also gets a 32 inch HD video screen partnered with a touchscreen controller handset.
Asiana claims that its first class loos "offer multi-purpose spaces that efficiently combine a lavatory, powder and dressing room", while also being spacious enough to allow passengers to change clothes without adopting a yoga position.
Upstairs is a bar and lounge area available to both first and business class travellers.
(The lounge is in the same location as that of the Qantas Airbus A380s.)
Asiana's A380 business class
Back from the lounge there are 66 of Asiana's 'Business Smartium' seats on the upper deck, ranked in a staggered 1-2-1 layout so that every passenger has direct access to the aisle.
It's a familiar design which sees window seats alternating between being next to the window or adjacent to the aisle, while the centre pairs of seats are nestled together in the middle or separated at the aisles.
Naturally, each seat folds out to a fully lie-flat bed.
Passengers get a 15.6 inch HD video display and touchscreen controller.
Asiana says its A380 business class cabin gets extra-large lavs 'with separate dressing rooms' for business class.
Asiana's A380 economy class
Economy class is split over both decks, with a 106 seat cabin at the rear of the upper deck and 311 more seats on the main deck.
The upper deck is the best pick due to its 2-4-2 seating arrangement compared to the main deck's tighter 3-4-3 configuration.
Asiana's Airbus A380 economy seats are one inch slimmer than the airline's standard international economy design, with the airline promising this allows more legroom for passengers rather than cramming more passengers onto the plane.
These seatback screens are also HD, although at a smaller 11.1 inch size.
Asiana is also spruiking a range of 'special cabin services' including
- fashion shows of Korean traditional dresses and wedding ceremonies put on by flight attendants
- a children's service where 'children can enjoy a variety of fun programs, such as: cookie baking, balloon art, costume play, and photographs'
There are also cocktails (served by "cabin attendants certified in bartending craft") and a barista service, a 'charming service' for an inflight touch-up of your make-up, and – we kid you not – tarot card readings!
Asiana plans to begin A380 flights over relatively short-range regional routes from Seoul to Hong Kong and Tokyo from mid-June, followed by Bangkok and Osaka in late July, before rostering the superjumbo onto its daily Los Angeles flight from August 15.
Follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
12 Jun 2013
Total posts 732
One day, all aircraft will be filled with duty free store, tip to tail. You won't be able to sit or eat, you'll just spritz perfumes and try to do the mental arithmetic on one litre versus 750 mL bottles of Scotch. Upon disembarking the duty free store you'll walk through the duty free store to the duty free store, where friendly customs officers will offer you a half-shot of some ungodly new flavoured vodka.
Qantas - QFF Platinum
20 Mar 2012
Total posts 211
Looks like some interesting photoshop work going on with the stewardess holding the PJ/headphone set
04 Nov 2010
Total posts 670
LOL, well spotted Joshb! Maybe Asiana uses the same Photoshop 'experts' as North Korea for their shots of The Glorious Leader, fleets of hovercraft etc!
Cathay Pacific - Asia Miles
25 Apr 2013
Total posts 542
At a press conference in Seoul, Asiana Airlines' President Soo Cheon Kim revealed the superjumbo's inaugural route would be between Seoul and Los Angeles from July. However, Kim said Asiana will begin flying the superjumbos in June to on short-range regional destinations including Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
Isn't the inaugural route supposed to be the startup route? Why does it start after the regional flights to NRT, KIX, HKG and BKK?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
Alvin: I suggest it's just semantics and Asiana talking about the start of the actual (international) route for which the A380 is intended, not the first flight carrying paying passengers that happens to be a short-hop proving flight. But yes, if you were on the first flight you could say "I was on the inaugural". Of course, Asiana's delivery flight of its first A380 from Toulouse to Seoul could also be called an inaugural!
Cathay Pacific - Asia Miles
25 Apr 2013
Total posts 542
Thanks. Can you update us when you have the details of the actual inaugural flight (excluding the flight from TLS)?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
Maybe. If we run a story on that you'll read it here, if we don't you won't.
14 Sep 2013
Total posts 14
Does anyone have a sense if it will be the 744 (OZ202) or the 77L (OZ204) flight replaced?? More likely to be the 744s they're are getting rid of or shifting???
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1242
Those "special cabin services" are absolutely bizarre.
Nothing really groundbreaking with any of the cabins.
15 May 2014
Total posts 2
Interesting... Just had a look at prices on matrix.
If you fly with Asiana you'll pay $4907 (1st class) for flight 202 on A380- Wed 15 Oct.
Same flight thru United is $3842 on flight 7975, on the same A380!!
$1100 saving Yeeew!!!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Apr 2014
Total posts 19
That's very clever...:-)
30 Aug 2013
Total posts 438
I know they dont have Y+ but its looks like they've gone for less J and more Y on their layout (106 Y on the upper deck is a LOT).
Whats the standard Y pitch? 32"? It looks extremely generous in the photos but I expect they may have used especially small people for this purpose.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Sep 2012
Total posts 131
Tarot cards? For questions like "Will my pilot make the full runway at SFO....?"
CX
05 Jun 2012
Total posts 127
Those "fully lie-flat" business class seats don't look fully lie-flat to me. 170 or 175 degrees, maybe, but not fully lie-flat (horizontal)
14 Jun 2013
Total posts 352
Ian, that's because lie-flat seats don't actually lie fully flat at 180 degrees. They are always a few degrees off the perfect horizontal to compensate for the fact that aircraft fly with their nose slightly elevated, and that few degrees of upwards tilt from the plane then makes the seat actually 'flat' and level at 180 degrees. When you see a lie-flat seat at ground level it always had that slight incline.
CX
05 Jun 2012
Total posts 127
I beg to differ, Mal, I think many seats do indeed go to 180 degrees - and it is precisely because of that nose-up attitude that I tend not to fully recline those seats. However, the angle on the Asiana seat seems quite pronounced, and I believe that the phrase "fully lie-flat" is generally taken to mean "parallel to the floor" - so the description is misleading in this case
09 Apr 2012
Total posts 1
Good on you Asiana. I travel the world and favour Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines. I will though try you again when I fly from Seoul to HK mid June.
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Photos: Inside Asiana's Airbus A380