By Craig Platt
Qantas's premium economy class for international flights went on sale today, with the new seats available for trips from April next year.
The new class features wider seats, with additional leg room, plus different meal options and noise-cancelling headphones.
The seats have been designed by Australian designer Marc Newson in association with Recaro, manufacturer of seats for luxury automobile brands Aston Martin, Audi and Porsche.
Premium economy seat row space is 96.5-101.6 centimetres, compared with 76.8 centimetres in standard economy. Seats will also be five centimetres wider.
Qantas executive general manager, John Borghetti, said the new class would also feature priority check-in, dedicated cabin crew, an additional hand baggage allowance and priority boarding and disembarkation.
Premium economy will be available on flights to London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Johannesburg. A seat on a Sydney-London return flight would start from $4567, compared to about $2400 for normal economy class or more than $10,000 for business class.
Qantas said 32 premium economy seats would be available on its Boeing 747-400s and, when they go into service in late 2008, Airbus A380 superjumbos.
Meanwhile, budget carrier Tiger Airways today announced it would begin flying a Melbourne-Adelaide route twice daily next year.