Qantas to fit Newson seats and personal video in all new domestic aircraft

Australia's longest direct flight – the five hour trek from Sydney to Perth – will soon be more bearable more often.

Qantas is set to double the number of Airbus A330s doing the coast-to-coast crossing, and they’ll all have better seats and personal video screens.

“We (already) have two new Airbus A330s doing Sydney to Perth and Melbourne to Perth" says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. "They have the new Marc Newson seats and new inflight entertainment systems with video-on-demand in every seat."

"We take delivery of our third A330 this Saturday and the fourth before Christmas, so we’ll have four new A330s to the Perth market, and all with new seats and new inflight entertainment technology."

That same seats-and-screens combo will be rolled out in all future Qantas aircraft from now on, says Joyce.

"Every aircraft we take delivery of going forward will have video-on-demand all the way through, and Marc Newson seats." Joyce confirmed this would include the 20+ Boeing 737-800 ‘Next Generation’ aircraft due for delivery from next year.

The Newson-styled seats draw from his work on the A380’s premium economy cabin, with a 22 inch width in business and 18.1 inches in economy.

Passengers at the pointy end also score an adjustable headrest and extendable legrest with foldout footrest, laptop power and a 10.6 inch in-arm video touchscreen.

Cattle class gets a 9 inch seatback touchscreen and one laptop power point shared between every two seats.